Andrew Parnell (born 17 February 1954, in

Buxton Buxton is a spa town in the Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, England. It is England's highest market town, sited at some above sea level.

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

) is an

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...

and

harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...

ist. As a boy Parnell was a choral scholar at

Southwell Minster Southwell Minster () is a minster and cathedral in Southwell, Nottinghamshire, England. It is situated miles from Newark-on-Trent and from Mansfield. It is the seat of the Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham and the Diocese of Southwell and N ...

, where he began organ studies under Kenneth Beard. He won the Organ Scholarship at

Christ's College, Cambridge Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 170 graduate students. The college was founded by William Byngham in 1437 as ...

aged 19 and studied under Nicolas Kynaston. He was awarded the Fellowship Diploma of the

Royal College of Organists The Royal College of Organists (RCO) is a charity and membership organisation based in the United Kingdom, with members worldwide. Its role is to promote and advance organ playing and choral music, and it offers music education, training and de ...

aged 19 and won the Limpus and Shinn prizes in that year's FRCO diploma examinations. After a spell as Director of Music at St James's Church, Cambridge, he moved to

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major ...

in 1976 as Assistant Master of the Music to the Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban, appointed by

Peter Hurford Peter John Hurford OBE (22 November 1930 – 3 March 2019) was a British organist and composer. Life Hurford was born in Minehead, Somerset, to Gladys Hurford (née James) and Hubert Hurford, a solicitor. He was educated at Blundell's School ...

. He was also appointed Master of Music and choirmaster at St Albans School. He founded St Albans Cathedral Girls' Choir (originally the Abbey Girls' Choir) in 1996, which is now a regular part of the worshipping community. From 1983 to 2001 he conducted St Albans Symphony Orchestra. In 2001, after 25 years in St Albans, he moved to

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

for a few years, but subsequently returned to live in St Albans where he pursued his freelance organist and recording career. Parnell now resides in Ely, Cambridgeshire, working closely with

Ely Cathedral Ely Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, is an Anglican cathedral in the city of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England. The cathedral has its origins in AD 672 when St Etheldreda built an abbey church. The presen ...

. Having been acting Assistant Organist at nine cathedrals, he joined the staff at Ely Cathedral as Assistant Director of the Octagon Singers. He is frequently invited to play as soloist or accompanist, and, in 2019 gave recitals at

Westminster Cathedral Westminster Cathedral is the mother church of the Catholic Church in England and Wales. It is the largest Catholic church in the UK and the seat of the Archbishop of Westminster. The site on which the cathedral stands in the City of ...

and St Andrew's Hall, Norwich. He currently enjoys his association with

Brian Kay Brian Christopher Kay (born 12 May 1944) is an English radio presenter, conductor and singer. He is well-known as the bass in the King's Singers during the group's formative years from 1968 to 1982, and as such is to be heard on many of their 197 ...

and

The Really Big Chorus The Really Big Chorus (TRBC) is Britain's largest choral society, made up of singers from hundreds of different choirs all over the UK as well as thousands of individuals. It was founded by Don Monro, an Electrical Engineering lecturer (and clarinet ...

, for whom he has played in the ''Messiah'' from Scratch in the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no govern ...

, and has travelled with the chorus on foreign tours. Parnell directs Ely Choral Society, the Ely Youth Choir and Wymondham Symphony Orchestra. Parnell's compositions, both sacred and secular, have been performed in venues as widespread as St Paul's Cathedral, St Thomas' 5th Avenue in New York, St Petersburg and Krakow. His Fenland Images, premiered in Ely Cathedral in 2017, was included in WSO's concert in the 2019 Wymondham Festival, in which the orchestra was joined by Ely Choral Society. He is a trustee of the New School of Organ Studies New School of Organ Studies

Recording and performing career

Parnell has accompanied

St Albans Cathedral Choir St Albans Cathedral Choir is an English Cathedral Choir based in St Albans, Hertfordshire, England. It is made up of around 20 boy choristers aged 7–14 and 12 adult lay clerks. In 2003 it appeared in the coronation scene of the film Johnny E ...

in recordings and radio and television broadcasts and has also accompanied

Norwich Cathedral Norwich Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Norwich, Norfolk, dedicated to the Holy and Undivided Trinity. It is the cathedral church for the Church of England Diocese of Norwich and is one of the Norwich 12 heritage sites. The cathedral ...

Girls' Choir on tour in the Netherlands, deputised as Assistant Organist at

and at the Cathedrals of Ely,

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

and

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...

, and is conductor of Ely Choral Society, principal conductor of Cambridgeshire Choral Society and

Wymondham Wymondham ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the South Norfolk district of Norfolk, England, south-west of Norwich, England, Norwich off the A11 road (England), A11 road to London. The River Tiffey runs through ...

Symphony Orchestra. He has also made numerous solo recordings on the organ and harpsichord. He is also frequently heard directing or accompanying ''

The Daily Service ''The Daily Service'' is a short Christian service broadcast every weekday morning between 09:45 and 10:00 on BBC Radio 4's long wave and DAB frequencies. It was also broadcast on Radio 4's FM frequencies until 13 September 1991. In 1926, Briti ...

'' on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

, and has accompanied the

BBC Singers The BBC Singers are a British chamber choir, and the professional chamber choir of the BBC. One of the six BBC Performing Groups, the BBC Singers are based at the BBC's Maida Vale Studios in London. The only full-time professional British c ...

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

References

External links

Andrew Parnell
at Michael Harrold artist management *St Albans Symphony Orchestr

*Cambridgeshire Choral Societ

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parnell, Andrew 1954 births Living people People from Buxton English classical organists British male organists Cathedral organists Fellows of the Royal College of Organists 21st-century organists 21st-century British male musicians Male classical organists