Christopher Gray is a British choral conductor and organist who served as Organist and Master of the Choristers at

Truro Cathedral The Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a Church of England cathedral in the city of Truro, Cornwall. It was built between 1880 and 1910 to a Gothic Revival design by John Loughborough Pearson on the site of the parish church of St Mary. It i ...

from 2008 to 2023 before being appointed Director of Music at

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corpo ...

.The Choir of St. John's, Cambridge, "St John’s College announces Christopher Gray as its new Director of Music"
15 November 2022. Retrieved 17 January 2023

Early life and education

Gray grew up in Bangor in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

and was assistant organist at

St George's Church, Belfast St. George's Church, Belfast is a Church of Ireland church located on High Street in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is the oldest Church of Ireland church in Belfast. It was designed by Irish architect, John Bowden, and opened in 1816. Major refur ...

, before moving to England at the age of 18 for an organ scholarship at

Pembroke College, Cambridge Pembroke College (officially "The Master, Fellows and Scholars of the College or Hall of Valence-Mary") is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college is the third-oldest college of the university and has over 700 ...

, where he studied with Nicolas Kynaston and David Sanger. As a postgraduate student at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a music school, conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the Undergraduate education, undergraduate to the Doctorate, doctoral level in a ...

, he was taught by Margaret Phillips and held an organ scholarship at

Guildford Cathedral The Cathedral Church of the Holy Spirit, Guildford, commonly known as Guildford Cathedral, is the Anglican cathedral at Guildford, Surrey, England. Richard Onslow donated the first of land on which the cathedral stands, with Viscount Bennett, ...

, working with

Stephen Farr Stephen Farr (born 1967 in London) is a British organist who is currently the Chief Examiner at the Royal College of Organists and the Director of Music at All Saints, Margaret Street. Early life Farr was born in 1967 in London and grew up in ...

and Geoffrey Morgan.

Career

Gray was appointed Assistant Director of Music at

in 2000 and Organist and Master of the Choristers in 2008. During his time there he was responsible for six choral services each week and oversaw the introduction of a girls' choir to complement the existing boys' choir. With the cathedral choristers, Gray appeared on the

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

television programme '' Britain's Got Talent'' in 2019, singing " Can You Feel the Love Tonight", which was composed by

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

for the animated film ''

The Lion King ''The Lion King'' is a 1994 American animated musical drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 32nd Disney animated feature film and the fifth produced during the Disney Renaissance, it ...

''. He also directed the Three Spires Singers and Orchestra as well as community and youth choirs in

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

. In 2022 it was announced that he would succeed

Andrew Nethsingha Andrew Nethsingha, FRCO, ARCM (born 16 May 1968) is an English choral conductor and organist, the son of the late Lucian Nethsingha, also a cathedral organist. He was appointed Organist and Master of the Choristers at Westminster Abbey in Lon ...

as Director of Music at

, in 2023.Truro Cathedral, "A Sad Farewell to Christopher Gray"
16 November 2022. Retrieved 17 January 2023. Gray has appeared as an organist in live radio and television broadcasts and on eight CD recordings, two of which were recommended as editor's choices by ''

Gramophone A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

'' magazine.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gray, Christopher Living people People from Bangor, County Down Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge Alumni of the Royal College of Music British male organists Fellows of St John's College, Cambridge 21st-century organists British male conductors (music) Year of birth missing (living people) Musicians from County Down Organists from Northern Ireland