Organ Recital with Carleton Etherington

All are welcome to join us for the next recital in our 2025 Organ Recital Series, with Tewkesbury Abbey's Director Music and Organist, Carleton Etherington.

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.

The programme for this concert is as follows:

Max Reger – Dankpsalm

Samuel Sebastian Wesley – Larghetto in F sharp minor

Johann Sebastian Bach – Fantasia and Fugue in G minor BWV 542

Cor Kee – Variations on ‘Merck toch hoe sterck’

Percy Whitlock – Scherzetto (Sonata)

Francis Jackson – Toccata, Chorale and Fugue

About Carleton Etherington:
Carleton Etherington is Organist and Director of Music at Tewkesbury Abbey, a post he has held since 1996. In this capacity he directs the Abbey Choir, which sing the Sunday services, and accompanies Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum, which sing the midweek Evensongs. He also directs Musica Deo Sacra, an annual Festival of Music within the Liturgy held at the Abbey each summer.

Born in Lancashire, Carleton was educated at Chetham’s School of Music, Manchester and The Royal Academy of Music, London, where he studied organ with Peter Hurford, David Sanger and Nicholas Danby, winning all the prizes for organ performance. After graduation he was appointed Sub Organist of Leeds Parish Church (now Minster) during which time he won the prestigious Royal College of Organists ‘Performer of the Year’ competition and gained first prize at the Paisley International Organ Competition.

As a recitalist, Carleton has performed throughout the UK and has toured in France, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Sweden, Ireland, Australia and the USA. He has broadcast on BBC Radio 2, 3 and 4 and has appeared on BBC television, both as organist and conductor. He has made several solo organ CD recordings, featuring mainly Romantic repertoire, all of which have been received with much acclaim. His playing also features on numerous recordings as an accompanist, in repertoire encompassing all periods of music.

Carleton has served on the Council of the Royal College of Organists, as Chairman of the Gloucestershire Organists’ Association and on the Gloucestershire Area Committee of the RSCM. He is conductor of Pershore and Cirencester Choral Societies and organ tutor at Dean Close School, Cheltenham. Honorary awards include Associateship of the Royal Academy of Music and Fellowship of the Guild of Church Musicians.