Thursday 23rd June 2011 - 13:10 - Christopher Kent (Chippenham)

Christopher Kent read music at The University of Manchester and musicology at King’s College London. In 1973 he received the Hilda Margaret Watts Prize for the M.Mus. Examination, and in 1976, a Louise Dyer Award for research into British Music from the editorial committee of Musical Britannica. After completing a Ph.D. on Elgar's sketches he continued organ and harpsichord studies with Susi Jeans and Gustav Leonhardt prior to joining the Department of Music at The University of Reading where his teaching focused on mainly on Baroque studies, and in 1985 he established an influential postgraduate course in Organ Historiography. After a bereavement, he took early retirement in 2002 to devote more time to research, writing, and performing. He has published widely in relation to interests in Elgar and Organography including: Edward Elgar: A Guide to Research (1993), chapters to the ‘Cambridge Composer Guide to Elgar ‘(2004) and ‘The Organ’ in the Cambridge Musical Instrument Guides (1998) and articles for The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart and The New Dictionary of National Biography. As a founder member of the editorial committee of the Elgar Complete Edition I co-edited several volumes of the project. He has served as Secretary of The British Institute of Organ Studies, as a Diocesan Organ Adviser to Oxford and Salisbury and is a member of The Association of Independent Organ Advisers. His recordings include music by Blow and Pachelbel on the 17th century Festorgel of the monastery of Klosterneuburg, and of a new organ, (in the style of the Thuringian builder Trost) in the chapel of Bowood House, for which he was the consultant. Currently, he is serving a second quinquennium as a member of the Organs Advisory Committee of The Churches Buildings Council. He is a Liveryman of The Worshipful Company of Musicians and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London. Dr. Kent has performed widely in Britain, Croatia, France, Italy, Slovakia and the U.S.A.; he is internationally active as a contributor to musicological conferences, most recently at the 2006 Handelfest in Halle. Currently, he is completing a major study of Elgar’s style and continues to respond to invitations to contribute articles to periodicals and to invitations from Universities as an external examiner. Recent recital venues have included York Minster and St. Laurence Jewry, City of London, Slough Parish Church , and The Grosvenor Chapel, Mayfair. He has been honorary organist of St. Nicholas Tytherton Lucas, Wiltshire since 1973.