Wednesday July 25 to Monday July 30, 2001 - Stratford, Ontario, Canada

English concert organist John Scott is recognized not only as one of his country's finest organists and musical leaders, but as one of the most gifted of his generation of concert organists in the performance world today. This highly visible musician is heard by countless visitors year-round at St Paul's Cathedral in London.

Since the late 1980's Mr. Scott has performed both spring and autumn solo recital tours in North America and in addition has received numerous invitations to perform organ dedication recitals.

John Scott has been long-associated with St. Paul's Cathedral and its world-renowned music program. In 1990 he was appointed Organist and Director of Music at St. Paul's Cathedral after serving there as Assistant Director of Music and Sub-Organist for several years. Before assuming that post he had been Assistant Organist at both of London's Anglican Cathedrals, St. Paul's and Southwark. Among the highlights of his work at St. Paul's Cathedral was serving as soloist in the organ voluntaries and accompanist to Dame Kiri Te Kanawa at the wedding of the Prince and Princess of Wales in 1981. In addition to his duties at St. Paul's Cathedral, John Scott has been Professor of Organ at the Royal Academy of Music and has also served as Assistant Conductor to Sir David Willcocks of the Bach Choir.

In 1978 John Scott was the First Prize Winner of the Manchester International Organ Competition, and in 1984 he became the first British musician ever to win the prestigious International J.S. Bach Organ Competition in Leipzig, Germany. Mr. Scott has had many works written for him by composers such as Petr Eben, Charles Camilleri, Kenneth Leighton and William Mathias, among others.

John Scott was born in Wakefield, England, and received his earliest musical training as a chorister at Wakefield Cathedral where he later served as Assistant Organist. After studies with Ralph Downes and Gillian Weir, he became the Organ Scholar at St. John's College, Cambridge, where he served as assistant to George Guest.

In 1977 he became the youngest organ soloist to appear at the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall in London. He was invited to perform his second Prom recital in August 1996. He has performed with several major British orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic under the baton of Sir Charles Groves. He has recorded two albums for Decca, and his recording at the organ of Southwark Cathedral won the Gramophone magazine's "Critic Choice Award" in 1983. Recent compact disc releases on the Hyperion, Guild, Nimbus and Priory labels have brought wide critical acclaim.

John Scott frequently records for the BBC and has given recitals and broadcasts throughout Britain, Europe, North America, Australia, and Hong Kong. He has appeared at all the major music festivals in Great Britain, as well as many on the continent. His international tours include Holland, the former Soviet Union, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, and Poland, as well as the United States, Canada, Australia, Hong Kong, South America and Japan. He was a member of the jury for the second Dallas International Organ Competition, and has been named chairman of the jury for the third Dallas International organ Competition in 2003. He was a featured performer at a recent national convention of the American Guild of Organists in Denver.

2001 ACADEMY PARTICIPANTS - Download the 2001 Academy Final Concert programme (180K pdf)

• Jennifer Famme
• Jennifer Goodine
• David Hall
• Barbara Heeg
• Eric Osborne
• Timothy Pyper
• Stephen Terpstra
• Michael Unger