Paul Carr

Organist

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 About Paul


'
Everywhere he plays his organ recitals are received with much acclaim.......a perfect fusion of programme planning, musical playing and exciting stop registrations' -
Victoria Hall, Hanley

'Carr's enthusiasm is infectious' - The Metro


Paul Carr is Organist and Director of Music at St Paul's in the Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham, where since September 2003 he has been responsible for raising the standard of music offered for the weekly liturgy, primarily through working with the choir of adults, and developing the music programme.

Paul studied organ with Dr Roy Massey MBE at Hereford Cathedral and Professor David Saint at Birmingham Conservatoire, graduating with first-class honours.

He is President of the Birmingham Organists Association, elected to serve a second term from March 2011.

Paul's concert schedule takes him all over the UK, where he has performed on many of the finest instruments. Recent and forthcoming engagements include solo recitals at Birmingham's Cathedrals, Birmingham Town Hall, Westminster Cathedral, Westminster Abbey and St Paul's Cathedral in London, Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral, Blenheim Palace, Truro Cathedral, Victoria Hall Hanley, St Giles' Cathedral Edinburgh, Kelvingrove Art Gallery in Glasgow and Alexandra Palace, London.

He has performed often in Germany, most recently in Münster where in August 2010 he returned to give a third Angeluskonzert at the Lambertikirche. He has given a Sunday audition d'orgue at Notre-Dame Cathedral, Paris, and has performed three times in Birmingham’s sister city of Chicago, USA, at the Fourth Presbyterian Church whose instrument is one of the largest in the Midwest. Paul has toured with choirs to Poland, Germany, the Czech Republic and the USA. Future engagements include a return to the USA for a solo recital at the Cathedral Church of St John the Divine, New York.

Paul is particularly noted for his eclectic programming, drawing on his extensive repertoire of organ literature and organ transcriptions. Since 1993 he has given monthly organ recitals in the Midlands, which have included performances of all six of Felix Mendelssohn's organ sonatas (to mark the 200th anniversary of the composer's birth) and many other major organ works in their entirety including the symphonies of Louis Vierne.

The first 100 of these monthly recitals took place over a ten-year period on the very fine 1909 Norman & Beard organ in Cradley Heath Methodist Church. Leading up to and following the closure of the church in July 2004, Paul and his wife Hannah worked tirelessly to re-home the instrument, eventually securing its future on the other side of the world at the Gulangyu Organ Museum in Xiamen, China. Future plans include a visit to Xiamen where Paul will give concerts on this and other instruments acquired by the museum from around the world.

Paul's current series Sunday Afternoon Organ Music takes place at Holy Trinity Parish Church Wordsley, Stourbridge, on the first Sunday of every month. In addition he can be heard at St Paul's Birmingham on the first Thursday of every month in the Thursday Live series which he founded in 2008.

Collaborative projects include an exploration of repertoire for organ and piano with pianist Michael Jones and a range of songs from Purcell to Gershwin with soprano Fiona Hammacott. Paul has worked extensively as choral accompanist, with a particular emphasis on French repertoire. He regularly accompanies visiting choirs in cathedrals around the country.

He has worked in primary education for 15 years, and also serves as Council member of the Worcestershire Organists' Association. He lives in central England with his wife Hannah.


Click here to see some of Paul's recent and forthcoming engagements

For Paul's concert programme biography please email him here





 St Lamberti, Munster Paul at St Lamberti, Munster Paul at the organ of Westminster Cathedral, London

Paul at the organ of St Lamberti, Münster, Germany and (right) Westminster Cathedral, London

 

                                      

 

Paul Carr Organist      About Paul      Diary      Sunday Afternoon Organ Music      Thursday Live       St Paul's Birmingham

Previous Performances      Reviews and Messages      From Cradley Heath to China      Gallery and Organs Played     Links  

© Paul Carr 2011.  All rights reserved.
mail@paulcarr.co.uk