Southwell Minster Choir Personnel

Paul Hale was organ scholar of New College, Oxford and later assistant organist of Rochester Cathedral before arriving in Southwell as cathedral organist (Rector Chori is Southwell’s ancient term) in April 1989.

In addition to his varied cathedral duties he is diocesan organ adviser to Southwell and Lincoln (South), conductor of the Nottingham Bach Choir, an executive committee member and examiner for the Royal College of Organists, president of the East Midlands Choirs Charitable Trust, and a Trustee of the Percy Whitlock Trust. He is in national demand as an organ consultant, most recently for Repton and King's Lynn Parish Churches, for the DeMontfort Hall in Leicester, Bridlington Priory, Leicester Cathedral and Glasgow University. He also designed the tonal schemes for the organs in the cathedrals of Rochester, Birmingham and Southwell.

As a player and choral conductor he has performed in all the major venues in England and Europe (including Rome) and the USA, as well as on all major UK television and radio channels. He was also a consultant and author of twenty-three articles for the second edition of The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, responsible for 20th century organists. His recent CDs (both with his cathedral choir and also solo organ) have received critical acclaim in the national press including Gramophone.

Paul Hale has reviewed music and recordings for numerous publications including BBC Radio 3's Record Review, but is probably best known for his reviews of some 2,000 recordings over twenty years in the international journal of the IAO, Organists' Review, of which he was editor from 1992 to 2005.

In 1999 he was honoured by being elected President of the Cathedral Organists' Association.

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Philip was born and educated in Liverpool where he was a music scholar at Liverpool College. At the age of 8, he was awarded a place in the choir of Liverpool Anglican Cathedral where he remained as a chorister until 1995. After leaving the choir, Philip took up a place as a student at the Junior Royal Northern College of Music to study organ, piano, French horn and composition. He spent his gap year as Assistant Organist at Winchester College prior to taking up the Organ Scholarship at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Philip received both the Associateship and Fellowship diplomas from the Royal College of Organists while an undergraduate. From 2003 to July 2008, he held the joint position of Assistant Organist at Winchester Cathedral and Organist of St Swithun’s School, Winchester serving for his final term as Acting Assistant Director of Music and Director of the Girls’ Choir at the Cathedral.

In September 2008 he took up the appointment of Assistant Director of Music at Southwell Minster in Nottinghamshire where he plays for all major choral services and directs the Minster Girls’ Choir and the Minster Chorale.

Recent organ recital venues have included Bath Abbey, Winchester Cathedral, Liverpool Cathedral, Chester Cathedral, St John’s College, Cambridge and Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral. He has also worked extensively as a piano accompanist with the tenor William Kendall and with the bass Jimmy Holliday, including recitals at the Newbury Festival and Warwick Arts Centre. Works have included Schubert’s Schwanengesang, Schumann’s Dichterliebe, Brahms’ Vier ernste Gesänge, Finzi’s Let us Garlands Bring and Britten’s Canticle II.

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