Daniel Cook

Organist Daniel Cook maintains a busy schedule throughout the U.K. as a recitalist, choral conductor, and cathedral organist. He is Master of the Choristers and Organist at Durham Cathedral. Cook has a substantial catalog of recorded organ music, much of it issued by the Priory Records label. In 2025, he moved to the Regent label, directing the Choir of Durham Cathedral on the album Herbert Howells: Psalms and Psalm Preludes. Cook was born in Hartlepool on England's east coast on September 7, 1979, and grew up there. On a family visit to the York Minster Cathedral, he was fascinated by the organ and asked his mother about it. She signed him up for lessons with Alfred Peacock, and he then studied at Durham Cathedral with Keith Wright. Cook served for a year as organ scholar (a student who performs at services) at Worcester Cathedral and then entered the Royal Academy of Music in London; his principal teachers there were Nicolas Kynaston, Patrick Russill, and James O'Donnell. He also took master classes with Marie-Claire Alain, Jon Laukvik, and Lionel Rogg. While still a student, he served as organ scholar at Southwark Cathedral and Westminster Abbey, graduating in 2003 with highest honors. He was Assistant Director of Music at Salisbury Cathedral from 2005 to 2011, and he made his recording debut as organist on the Girl Choristers and Lay Clerks of Salisbury Cathedral album Bernard Naylor: The Nine Motets in 2010. That album appeared on Priory Records, where Cook continued to record. From 2011 to 2013, Cook was Organist and Master of the Choristers at St. David's Cathedral in Wales and directed the cathedral's festival. In 2013, he became sub-organist at Westminster Abbey, performing at several major services marking the anniversaries of major events in World War II, and he performed with the Westminster Cathedral Choir on several recordings. Cook was appointed Master of the Choristers and Organist at Durham Cathedral in 2017, continuing to hold that position in the mid-2020s. He also directs the Mousai Singers ensemble of young vocalists, and in the fall of 2025, he added the post of director of England's Cleveland Philharmonic Choir to his résumé. Cook continued to record for Priory Records in the 2010s, performing on various organs around England. He issued at least volumes (Nos. 83, 85, and 91) in the label's "Great European Organs" series. In 2017, he joined the Choir of Westminster Abbey on its Hyperion album Finzi: Lo, the full, final sacrifice; Bax: This worldes joie; I sing of a maiden; Ireland: Te Deum; Greater Love. He returned in 2025 on the Regent label as choir director, leading the Choir of Durham Cathedral on the album Herbert Howells: Psalms and Psalm Preludes. ~ James Manheim, Rovi