Our 2023 Organ Recital series continues at 7pm on 5th May, with a Coronation-themed recital given by Canon Peter Gould, former Master of the Music at Derby Cathedral.
Join us for a fantastic FREE recital, performed on our recently-restored 1889 J.W. Walker & Sons pipe organ. Refreshments included, no booking required. For programme details, visit The Organ Project’s website.
Born in Portsmouth, Canon Peter Gould studied Organ, Piano and Cello at the Royal Academy of Music, London. Whilst there he gained prizes for choir training, organ accompaniment and harmony; achieving the following diplomas: G.R.S.M. (Lond). F.R.C.O., L.R.A.M. (piano teacher) and A.R.C.M. (organ performer), and has since been awarded the honorary A.R.A.M. He then went to Bretton Hall College in Yorkshire to gain a Diploma in Education. In 1974 Peter was appointed Assistant Organist at Wakefield Cathedral, music teacher at Honley High School (later Head of Music), assistant chorus master to the Wakefield Festival Chorus and conductor of the Cawthorne Choral Society. During his time at Wakefield, he was involved in many professional recordings and broadcasts with the choir.
In 1983 he became Master of the Music in Derby Cathedral, retiring in 2015 after 32 years in post and a total of 40 years of working in English Cathedrals. He is pleased to know that no less than four of his Derby Choristers currently have professional organist positions in English Cathedrals.
Peter has given organ recitals in London’s St Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey and Westminster Cathedral, Birmingham Town Hall, Kings College, Cambridge and York Minster. In his final two years in Derby, he toured every Anglican church in the diocese giving short recitals on the 278 different organs.
Peter now lives just north of Portsmouth. He is Chair of the Portsmouth R.S.C.M. committee, the President of the Portsmouth and District Organists Association and is on the council for the Friends of Cathedral Music. When not involved in music he enjoys rail travel and can sometimes be found issuing tickets in the Booking Office of Alresford Railway Station.
