Stephen Farr

{{Infobox person | name = Stephen Farr | image =  | alt =  | caption = | birth_name =  | birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1967}} | birth_place = London, England | death_date =  | death_place = | nationality =  | other_names = | occupation = Organist | years_active = | alma_mater = Clare College<br />University of Surrey | known_for = | notable_works = }}

'''Stephen Farr''' (born 1967 in London) is a British organist<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/views/liverpool-columnists/echo-columnists/2008/12/05/french-collection-100252-22408847/|title=French collection|last=Rile|first=Joe|date=December 5, 2008|newspaper=Liverpool Echo|accessdate=20 July 2012}}</ref> who is currently the Chief Examiner at the Royal College of Organists<ref name=rco>{{cite web|url=https://www.rco.org.uk/news_displaystory.php?newsid=273|title=RCO appoints Stephen Farr as Chief Examiner|date=2017-09-20|publisher=Royal College of Organists|access-date=2021-10-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rco.org.uk/aboutus_our_people.php|title=Our People|date=n.d.|publisher=Royal College of Organists|access-date=2021-10-16}}</ref> and the Director of Music at All Saints, Margaret Street.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/classical-music/britains-greatest-living-composer-equal-elgar-isnt-household/|last=Heffer|first=Simon|title=Britain's greatest living composer is the equal of Elgar – so why isn't he a household name?|date=2020-10-03|publisher=The Telegraph|access-date=2021-10-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://asms.uk/music/choir/|title=The Choir|access-date=2021-10-16|publisher=All Saints Margaret Street|date=n.d.}}</ref>

==Early life== Farr was born in London<ref name=naxos/> and grew up in the South East.<ref name=getsurrey/> He attended Eltham College in London,<ref name=issuu>{{cite news |author= |date=2013|title=High Praise for Contemporary Recording|url=https://issuu.com/bainespsa/docs/a556587_eltham_combined|work=Plane Talking|publisher=Eltham College Alumni|access-date=2021-10-16}}</ref> and then, from 1984, Clare College, Cambridge as organ scholar.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cweb1.clare.cam.ac.uk/news/2016095901-Clare+welcomes+its+first+ever+female+Organ+Scholar.html|title=Clare welcomes its first ever female Organ Scholar|date=2016-09-30|publisher=Clare College|access-date=2021-10-16}}</ref><ref name=issuu/> He graduated with Double First Class Honours{{Broken anchor|date=2025-08-01|bot=User:Cewbot/log/20201008/configuration|target_link=British undergraduate degree classification#Degree classification##Variations in classification###Variations of First Class honours|reason= }} in music before continuing at Clare to earn his MPhil in Musicology.<ref name=rco/><ref name=trinity>{{cite web|url=http://trinitycollegechoir.com/organ/organ-music-evensong/stephen-farr/|title=Stephen Farr|date=n.d.|publisher=Trinity College Choir|access-date=2021-10-16}}</ref> He also holds a PhD in music performance from the University of Surrey, where he completed a thesis on Judith Bingham's work.<ref name=rco/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/extra/pwfHzx1dn3/BBC-Singers-15-October|title=Fauré's Requiem: Solace and Sustenance|date=2021|publisher=BBC Singers|access-date=2021-10-16}}</ref> Farr was among the youngest musicians ever to receive funding from the Countess of Munster Musical Trust.<ref name=trinity/> His tutors in London included Robert Munns and David Sanger,<ref name=naxos>{{Cite AV media notes |title=STAINER: The Crucifixion|last=Gilchrist|first=James|first2=Simon|last2=Bailey|others=Choir of Clare College, Cambridge|url=https://www.chandos.net/chanimages/Booklets/NA7624.pdf|date=2005|access-date=2021-10-16|type=Liner|publisher=NAXOS}}</ref> and receipt of the Worshipful Company of Musicians' W.T. Best Scholarship allowed him to study under Piet Kee in Haarlem, Netherlands and Hans Fagius in Copenhagen, Denmark.<ref name=trinity/>

==Career== In the years following his time at Clare College, Farr won the Royal College of Organists Performer of the Year Award (1988) as well as a number of international prizes at competitions in Odense, Paisley and St Albans. He worked as sub-organist and later lecturer at Christ Church, Oxford (1990—1996),<ref name=trinity/> Assistant Master of Music at Winchester Cathedral,<ref name=getsurrey>{{cite web|url=https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/local-news/cathedrals-new-organist-puts-emphasis-4859598|title=Cathedral's new organist puts the emphasis on versatility|date=1999-09-24|publisher=Surrey Live|access-date=2021-10-16}}</ref> and organist and Master of the Choristers at Guildford Cathedral (1999—2007)<ref name=getsurrey/><ref name=guilford>{{cite web|url=https://www.guildford-cathedral.org/music/organists/previous|title=Previous Organists|date=n.d.|publisher=Guildford Cathedral|access-date=2021-10-16}}</ref> He left Guildford in 2007 to freelance and to serve as the Director of Music at St. Paul's Church in Knightsbridge and Music Consultant at Worcester College in Oxford.<ref name=guilford/> In spring 2020, he left St. Paul's to join All Saints, Margaret Street as Director of Music.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.stpaulsknightsbridge.org/music-staffing-update-january-2020/|title=Music Staffing Update – January 2020|date=2020-01-17|publisher=St. Paul's Knightsbridge|access-date=2021-10-16}}</ref>

His concerto work has included engagements with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra, and the London Mozart Players;<ref>{{cite book|last=Rodmell|first=Paul|title=Charles Villiers Stanford|url={{Google books|gCgxDwAAQBAJ|plainurl=yes}}}}</ref> and he has performed at the Sydney Opera House as a concerto soloist with the Australian Baroque Orchestra.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cityoflondonchoir.org/meet-us/associate-conductor/|title=Associate Conductor|date=n.d.|publisher=City of London Choir|access-date=2021-10-16}}</ref> Farr has performed a number of world premieres for famous composers, including Judith Bingham's ''The Everlasting Crown'' in 2011 at the Royal Albert Hall;<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/e6qbj5|title=Prom 3: Organ recital – Bach, Bingham, Alain & Liszt|website=BBC Music Events|accessdate=10 August 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://bachtrack.com/review-prom-3-organ-recital|date=2011-07-21|last=Benson-Wilson|first=Andrew|title=A Judith Bingham world premiere on the Royal Albert Hall organ|publisher=Bach Track|access-date=2021-10-16}}</ref><ref name=jacquets>{{Cite AV media notes |title=Jacquet's Ghost|last=Farr|first=Stephen|url=https://www.chandos.net/chanimages/Booklets/RE0111.pdf|date=2012|access-date=2021-10-16|type=Liner|publisher=NAXOS}}</ref> Thomas Hyde's ''Improvisation on Puer natus'' in 2012 as part of Worcester College Choir's 2012 CD ''This Christmas Night'';<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cherwell.org/2012/11/20/review-this-christmas-night-worcester-college-choir/|date=2012-11-20|last=Wright|first=Katy|title=Review: 'This Christmas Night': Worcester College Choir|publisher=Cherwell Archive|access-date=2021-10-16}}</ref> and Cecilia McDowall's ''First Flight'' in 2021, performed online during the COVID-19 pandemic.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rco.org.uk/news_displaystory.php?newsid=344|title=Online interNational Organ Day 2021 to celebrate the organ and its music 'right around the world'|date=2012-03-16|publisher=Royal College of Organists|access-date=2021-10-16}}</ref> He has appeared with numerous ensembles, including Florilegium, the Bach Choir, BBC Singers, BBC Concert Orchestra, English Concert, London Baroque Soloists, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Wallace Collection, Endymion Ensemble, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Britten Sinfonia, the Academy of Ancient Music, Polyphony, Arcangelo, the LSO, the Philharmonia, the CBSO and the Berlin Philharmonic. He is currently the Principal Keyboard of the Dunedin Consort. Among the many places he has performed are Westminster Abbey, Odense Cathedral, Notre-Dame de Paris, Grote or Sint-Laurenskerk, the Royal Festival Hall, Copenhagen Cathedral, Westminster Cathedral, York Minster, St Paul's Cathedral, and Århus Domkirke.<ref name=trinity/><ref name=getsurrey/>

In 1997, Farr collaborated with Thomas Adès for EMI's release of ''Under Hamelin Hill''.<ref name=jacquets/> In 2004, he commissioned David Briggs to compose a new organ symphony inspired by the original solo organ sketches for Maurice Duruflé's Requiem.

Farr first appeared at the BBC Proms in 2011, and has made regular appearances at the festival in subsequent years. He has also recorded numerous CDs for labels including Hyperion Records,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/a.asp?a=A814|title=Stephen Farr (organ)|date=n.d.|publisher=Hyperion Records|access-date=2021-10-16}}</ref> Priory Records,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.prioryrecords.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=1762|title=Great European Organs No.43: Odense Cathedral|date=n.d.|publisher=Priory Records|access-date=2021-10-17}}</ref> and Nimbus Records;<ref>{{cite book|last=Smith|first=Carolyn J|title=Kenneth Leighton|url={{Google books|NZ_hAJ-ULSQC|plainurl=yes}}|page=115}}</ref> he now records for Resonus Classics, with whom he has issued discs of works by Judith Bingham, James Macmillan, Kenneth Leighton, Hieronymus Praetorius, Philip Moore and J S Bach.

Farr was appointed to Chief Examiner at the Royal College of Organists in 2017.<ref name=rco/>

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{s-start}} {{s-culture}} {{s-bef|before=Andrew Millington}} {{s-ttl|title=Organist and Master of the Choristers of Guildford Cathedral |years=1998–2008}} {{s-aft|after=Katherine Dienes-Williams}} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Farr, Stephen}} Category:English classical organists Category:British cathedral organists Category:Organ improvisers Category:People educated at Eltham College Category:Living people Category:21st-century British organists Category:21st-century British male musicians Category:1967 births Category:Alumni of the University of Surrey Category:British male classical organists