Benjamin Saunders concert organist
Benjamin Saunders aims to present a varied and accessible programme to delight audiences both young and old, be they new to organ music or lifelong devotees of the instrument. His solo repertoire includes both classical, popular and jazz works, some familiar and others new or recently rediscovered. He has also transcribed many orchestral works for the organ and these arrangements often form a popular part of his concert programmes.
He was organ scholar of Downing College, Cambridge and sub-organist at the Cathedrals of St Giles’ Edinburgh and Blackburn, before becoming Assistant Director of Music at Chester Cathedral in 1998. Since 2002 he has been Director of Music for the Diocese of Leeds, leading the department at Leeds Cathedral, the centre of the England's largest choral outreach programme. During this time, Benjamin has been privileged to act as consultant and advisor to a number of the UK's other musically pre-eminent cathedrals and schools.
As an organist, he has performed to HM the Queen, Princess Anne and US President Carter and worked with conductor Carl Davis and jazz virtuoso Dick Hyman. He has given solo organ concerts in France, Italy, Holland, Germany, Russia and the United States. His London recitals have included Westminster Cathedral, St Paul's Cathedral and St Martin-in-the-Fields. Some notable appearances outside the UK have been at the Ed Landreth Concert Hall in Texas, the Basilica of St Lorenzo in Florence and the Church of the Incarnation in Dallas. He was the first British organist to be invited to play at Kaliningrad Cathedral, home of the largest organ in Russia.
Benjamin studied organ with Peter Hurford whilst at Cambridge, and has subsequently studied with David Sanger, Ann Bond and Michel Bouvard.