| 24/09/2010 | Providence United Reformed Church, New Mills 7.30pm Gordon's concert is part of the New Mills Festival and celebrates the completion of the restoration of the 1914 J J Binns organ, [ More ] |
| 25/09/2010 | Salesbury Parish Church Gordon plays a programme celebrating the restoration of the Harrison organ by Wood Organ Builders. Details from http://www.salesbury-stpeter.org.uk/whatson.htm[ More ] |
| 28/09/2010 | St Mary, Stoughton, Chichester 7.30 Gordon plays the restored Willis organ in this wonderful historic church[ More ] |
welcome
Gordon Stewart is one of the UK’s most popular and adaptable organists; he has played Celebrity Concerts in such places as St Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey and Westminster Cathedral, the Laurenskerk, Alkmaar and at Symphony Hall in Birmingham, Leeds Town Hall, Melbourne Town Hall, Pietermaritzburg City Hall, Johannesburg Cathedral and the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, but is equally happy playing concerts in small churches and chapels. His large repertoire means he can design concerts suitable for most organs and audiences. Playing regularly on the 1860 Father Willis organ at Huddersfield Town Hall, where he has been resident organist at for almost 20 years, he has built a large and enthusiastic following.
Gordon tours abroad most years; this year he will be in New Zealand, Australia and South Africa in August and September.
Gordon has recorded several CDs recently, and those of the organs of the Caird Hall, Dundee, Huddersfield Town Hall, Pietermaritzburg City Hall, Johannesburg Cathedral, and Pontefract Parish Church are available from this site. Recording plans for later this year include Magnificat settings for organ from Clifton Cathedral, Bristol and Cathedral Classics from Johannesburg Cathedral.
Gordon was born in Dundee, Scotland, and studied in Manchester and Geneva. His teachers included Eric Chadwick, Gillian Weir and Lionel Rogg. He was awarded a Performer’s Diploma with distinction in Manchester and a Premier Prix de Virtuosité in Geneva. For fifteen years he was a cathedral organist, first in Manchester then in Blackburn. In recent years he has been awarded honorary fellowships by both the Royal College of Organists and the Royal School of Church Music, and an honorary doctorate by the University of Huddersfield.
Gordon is also well-known as a teacher, having been on the staff of both the Royal Northern College of Music and Chetham’s School for many years, and former students have held positions at St Paul’s Cathedral London, Westminster Abbey, Wells Cathedral, St Mary’s Cathedral Edinburgh and Coventry Cathedral. He has led master-classes for colleges and universities throughout the UK and in the USA, South Africa and the Netherlands.
“Gordon Stewart is a marvellously engaging performer. He almost literally runs onto the stage, and before he plays a note transmits a sense of energy, fun and anticipation. This touch of showbiz and the scattering about of funny stories prepares you to fully enjoy yourself. Gordon’s ‘show’ is very visual, but nothing of this style of delivery detracts from the seriously good musicianship of his performance. On the contrary, it energises and places in the mainstream an instrument which, certainly in the eyes of the young and the unchurched, can seem stuffy and dull……Gordon Stewart is a vibrant and accomplished player, at one with his instrument and his audience, whom he delighted from beginning to end.” Organ Australian December 2008