Simon Preston established a career as a virtuoso organist and conductor of (mainly) religious choral music. He was a composer and an expert on organs as well, affecting the replacement of the traditional cathedral-style organ at Christ Church, Oxford, with a Rieger organ from Austria; he was consulted on the replacement of organs at the concert hall at St. John's, Smith Square and at Tonbridge School. Preston developed a broad repertory as both organist and conductor, taking in church (and other) music from the Baroque era but also reaching well into the 20th century. He performed and recorded concertos and solo works by J.S. Bach, concertos by Poulenc and Copland, and the Saint-Saëns Third Symphony. He also led performances of sacred music by Palestrina and Lassus, choral works of Handel and Purcell, and Anglican church music. Preston recorded extensively for various labels, including Decca, Philips, and Deutsche Grammophon. Preston was born on August 4, 1938, in Bournemouth, England. As a child, he served as a chorister at Cambridge University (King's College), a time when he also took organ lessons from Hugh McLean. Later on, at the Royal Academy of Music, he studied organ with C.H. Trevor. Preston returned to King's College in 1958 for nearly five additional years of music study: his teachers there included Sir David Willcocks. By the early '60s, he had made several recordings, which included albums of music by Orlando Gibbons and Olivier Messiaen. Preston served as sub-organist at Westminster Abbey from 1962 to 1967. For the next several years, he toured Europe and the U.S. as an organ recitalist. From 1970 until 1981, he served at Christ Church, Oxford, as organist and tutor in music. He recorded heavily during this time, achieving particular acclaim for his 1975 Stravinsky Symphony of Psalms on Argo with the Choir of Christ Church. Preston was organist and master of the choristers at Westminster Abbey from 1981 through 1987, during which time he composed some music for the 1984 film Amadeus and directed music at the 1986 royal wedding. After leaving his post at Westminster, Preston freelanced both from the keyboard and at the podium, touring around the world in both capacities. From 1987 until 2000, he recorded the complete organ music of Bach for Deutsche Grammophon. In 2006, Preston issued the album Royal Albert Hall Organ Restored on Signum Classics, which featured works by Mendelssohn, Bolcom, Jongen, and others. Preston was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire at the 2009 Birthday Honours. Among his final recordings was a 2010 reading of Berlioz's Te Deum with Susanna Mälkki conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Several of Preston's earlier recordings were reissued in the 2010s. Simon Preston died on May 13, 2022, at the age of 83. ~ Robert Cummings, Rovi

Simon Preston

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