Organist and Choirmaster, Christ Church (United Reformed), Leatherhead: choir practice Friday 8pm, an anthem most Sunday mornings and special musical services (e.g. Palm Sunday, Christmas). He has held this post, with a short break, since 1965, and has given many musical services, concerts and recitals in the church including Schütz's "St Matthew Passion" with tenor soloist Roger Norrington in 1963.
During 2000 he played the complete organ works of J.S. Bach (277 pieces) at church services, and during 2007 did the same for Buxtehude. His choice of organ voluntaries covers a wide range of composers, and he is planning to publish on the internet a database of 2,760 organ pieces with timings, including the complete organ works of J.S. Bach, Boyce, Bruhns, Buxtehude, Howells, Leighton, Mendelssohn, Messiaen, Pachelbel, Stanley, Sweelinck, Tunder, S.S. Wesley and Whitlock. Organist for weddings, funerals and concerts. He has served as church Elder and edited the Christ Church Newsletter until February 2010.
He was conductor 1992-2000 of Leatherhead Choral Society, which took part in the Leith Hill Musical Festival (Festival Conductor: Brian Kay) and also gave two concerts a year. He was recently invited back to play the harmonium in their performance of Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle under their present conductor, Ian Assersohn.
In 2006 he formed a new chamber choir in the Leatherhead area:
Antiphonia gave its first concert, "O Clap Your Hands", in October 2006 at Christ Church, Leatherhead, as part of the Tenth Mole Valley Arts Alive Festival. [Sample]. Their regular accompanist is Gina Eason. Good sightreaders interested in joining should email Anthony Cairns at antiphonia@andante5.plus.com .
He uses computers (RiscOS and WinXP) for -
- music typesetting using Sibelius6® (full orchestral scores, choral music, chamber music and organ, and a little composing and arranging);
- scanning and digital camera photography using DPlngScan and Photodesk software for RiscOS;
- website design and/or management for several organizations including Christ Church (UR), Leatherhead, the Incorporated Association of Organists (IAO) and various organists' associations. He is an enthusiast for RiscOS (developed from the Acorn operating system), a platform which he prefers to Mac or Windows: its advanced graphics and other facilities are used in preparing brochures, programmes and handbills for orchestral and choral concerts and church magazines and service sheets, and in designing websites and publishing them on the internet, and he has always found RiscOS email and other software easy to use and impervious to computer viruses. His daughter, a Mac specialist who recently worked at Sibelius Software Ltd, has helped with website design.
His son is a qualified engineer employed by the German trench heating firm Kampmann as their UK representative. In June 2005, he married a Danish photographer at Dronninglund Slot in north Denmark, and Anthony played the church organ at their wedding (picture in slideshow).
Other hobbies include harpsichord-making, organ design, and chamber music (piano, cello, harpsichord, organ). One of his two harpsichords, and a clavichord, made to his own designs, are now undergoing restoration.
He also owns a superb 4-rank house organ, built by Peter Collins (pd_collins@lineone.net) and completed in June 2000; come and hear it by appointment!
Education and career: MA (Cantab.), BMus (Lond.), ARCM. Retired 1997 after 9 years teaching academic music and keyboard harmony at the Purcell School. Previously Head of Music at Esher College where he organized regular concerts and was musical director for five musicals. Music teacher in Surrey schools from 1967.
Page updated: 20 April 2012. (Webmaster: Anthony Cairns at acairns@iao.org.uk).
