New Organist & Master of the Choristers at St Davids Cathedral
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The Dean and Chapter are pleased to announce that Mr Daniel Cook,
Assistant Director of Music at Salisbury Cathedral, has been appointed
Organist and Master of the Choristers at St Davids Cathedral.
Daniel was born in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1979 and received his early
musical education at Durham Cathedral with Keith Wright. Following a
year as Organ Scholar at Worcester Cathedral, he moved to London to
take up a place at the Royal Academy of Music where he studied with
Nicolas Kynaston, James O'Donnell, and Patrick Russill and performed in
master classes with many of the world’s leading organists including
Marie-Claire Alain, Lionel Rogg and Jon Laukvik. While at the Academy,
he worked as Organ Scholar at Southwark Cathedral and Westminster
Abbey before graduating with first-class honours in July, 2003. While still
a student, he was appointed Assistant Organist at Westminster Abbey
where he participated in many important national and international
services including the 50th anniversary of the Queen's Coronation.
Daniel moved to Salisbury Cathedral as Assistant Director of Music in
September 2005. In addition to his work with the cathedral choirs, he is
the principal organist of the cathedral, playing for all major services,
broadcasts, concerts and recordings as well as being founder of the
Cathedral Chamber Choir. Outside of Salisbury he is Musical Director of
the Grange Choral Society (a 160-strong mixed choir based in
Christchurch), and holds a similar position with the Salisbury based
chamber choir, the Farrant Singers.
Daniel has twice been a finalist in the St Albans International Organ
Competition. As an organist he has performed throughout the UK and in
Europe and the USA. Recent years have seen engagements in most of
the cathedrals in Britain, several Oxbridge College Chapels and in
Westminster Abbey's Summer Organ Festival. He is also well known as
an accompanist and has worked with many of the distinguished vocal
ensembles and choral groups in the UK such as the BBC Singers and the
Holst Singers. He has made several solo CD recordings for Priory Records
both at Salisbury and on other important British organs and is currently
in the middle of a series of recordings of English romantic music by
Brewer, Sumsion and Stanford. Recent projects have included a
performance of the complete organ works of Olivier Messiaen in six
recitals to celebrate the centenary of the composer’s birth, and a CD
recording of contemporary organ music for the John Armitage Memorial
Trust and Choir and Organ magazine.
Daniel said ‘I am thrilled to have been given this wonderful opportunity
to direct the music in St Davids Cathedral. I can’t imagine a more
inspiring place to work and I am looking forward to building on the
excellent work of my predecessors.’
The Dean of St Davids, the Very Reverend Jonathan Lean, said ‘I am
delighted that Mr Daniel Cook has accepted our offer to be the new
Organist & Master of the Choristers here at St Davids Cathedral. I look
forward immensely to welcoming him and his family to St Davids as we
begin this exciting new chapter in the musical life of the cathedral.’