Evening Organ Recital with Benjamin Chewter

All are welcome to join us for the next recital in our 2024 Organ Recital Series, with Benjamin Chewter.

The recital will begin at 7.30pm, and will take place in the Quire of the Cathedral. This event is free, with a retiring collection in aid of Cathedral music. There is no need to book.

Programme:

Courante (Terpsichore Musarum Aoniarum, 1612) – Michael Praetorius (1571-1621)

Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele BWV 654 – J.S. Bach (1685-1750)

Praeludium in E minor ‘The Great’ – Nicolaus Bruhns (1665-1697)

Three Pieces Op.22 – Niels Gade (1817-1890)

i) Moderato

ii) Allegretto

iii) Allegro molto

Fugue IV on BACH Op. 60 – Robert Schumann (1810-1856)

Komm Heiliger Geist, Herre Gott BuxWV 199 – Dietrich Buxtehude (c.1637-1707)

Commotio Op. 58 (1931) – Carl Nielsen (1865-1931)

About Benjamin Chewter:

Benjamin Chewter is Organist at the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, the largest Baptist church in the city, which was founded in 1650 and became well-known for being pastored by Charles Spurgeon in the nineteenth century; it still holds to the same principles of traditional worship, fervent evangelism and the doctrines of grace under its present pastor, Dr Peter Masters. Alongside this work, Benjamin is a concert organist and freelance piano and organ teacher.

Educated at Christ's Hospital School in his native Sussex, Benjamin held the Organ Scholarship at

Canterbury Cathedral before going up to Emmanuel College, Cambridge as Organ Scholar (where he read Music and was Organist of King’s Voices, the mixed-voice choir of King’s College Chapel). He subsequently held the Organ Scholarship at Westminster Abbey and was Assistant Organist of Lincoln Cathedral before moving to Chester Cathedral as Assistant Director of Music. He moved to London in 2016 after almost five years at Chester.

As an organist and conductor he has performed extensively throughout the UK and abroad, particularly in Germany. He has also appeared frequently as an organist for live broadcasts of the Daily Service on BBC Radio 4 and Choral Evensong on BBC Radio 3. Contemporary music has a strong place in his repertoire, and he has premiered new music by Howard Skempton, Philip Moore, Ciprian Ilie, Francis Pott and Matthew Martin. Recent recital venues in 2024 have included Truro and Chester Cathedrals, with recitals at Southwark Cathedral, Blackburn Cathedral, Reading Town Hall and Hull City Hall scheduled for 2025.

Benjamin studied organ repertoire with Dame Gillian Weir and Stephen Farr and improvisation with David Briggs; he is a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists and also holds the College's Choral Conducting Diploma. He is married to Catherine and they have a son, Micah.