Peter Siepmann (Nottingham Cathedral)
Johann Sebastian Bach: Prelude in E-flat ‘St Anne’, BWV 552
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy: Sonata no. 2
Amy Summers (b. 1996): O lux beata Trinitas
César Franck: Choral no. 3
Peter Siepmann’s programme begins with Bach’s majestic Prelude in E flat, appropriate for the German patrimony of the Binns Organ: James Jepson Binns was greatly influenced by Edmund Schulze whose world-famous organ in Leeds, St Bartholomew’s at Armley, was rebuilt by Binns and whose tonal qualities he sought to emulate elsewhere.
Mendelssohn was a great Bach pioneer who was immensely popular in England, and we hear next the second of his organ sonatas. Despite the vicissitudes of the last sixty years, Nottingham Cathedral has – sometimes against all odds – maintained the use of Gregorian chant, and we hear a piece based on the plainsong hymn O lux beata trinitas by Amy Summers, a former choral scholar and then composer in residence at the Cathedral.
We end with César Franck’s final organ piece, the glorious Choral no 3, with all the majesty of his organ music but in the middle something which is devout but which might also be a love-song to his pupil Augusta Holmès!
The concert runs from 1.10pm to 1.55pm.
Admission £5 at the door, or book online.
Feel free to bring your own lunch.
Peter Siepmann is Director of Music at Nottingham Cathedral and is well-known in the region for his encouraging, enthusiastic and informed approach to rehearsal and performance.
He was educated at St Edward’s School in Oxford and the University of Nottingham, where he was awarded a doctorate in 2010. As a conductor, Peter has directed many of the major works of the choral repertoire with choirs and orchestras of all sizes, both amateur and professional, on the concert stage and in a liturgical setting. Peter became conductor of Nottingham Bach Choir in September 2019, following Paul Hale’s twenty-nine year tenure. As an accompanist and continuo player (a particular passion), Peter has performed with many of the UK’s leading soloists.
Before his Cathedral appointment, Peter was Organist & Director of Music at St Peter’s Church, Nottingham for eighteen years, where, alongside considerable development of the capabilities and repertoire of the church choir, he oversaw the design, fundraising and installation of a new church organ.
Alongside his work as a conductor, organist and an examiner for ABRSM, Peter is the General Manager of Southwell Music Festival, and also sits on the grant assessment panel of the Cathedral Music Trust. This follows almost twenty years as an educator, first in the renowned department at Uppingham School and then for over a decade at Repton School as Head of Academic Music. Peter is a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists, and a number of his organ pupils have gone on to cathedral and university scholarships. He lives in Southwell with his wife Adele and son Alexander, who is a cathedral chorister.