Iain Farrington (born 1977) is a British

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

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 ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

and

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

. He performs regularly with some of the country's leading singers, instrumentalists and choirs, as well as giving solo recitals.

Biography

Early years and education

Farrington studied piano at the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first Duke of ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and was Organ Scholar at

St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle in England is a castle chapel built in the late-medieval Perpendicular Gothic style. It is both a Royal Peculiar (a church under the direct jurisdiction of the monarch) and the Chapel of the Order of the Gar ...

and Organ Scholar 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 ...

. As a solo pianist, accompanist, chamber musician and organist, he has performed at

Wigmore Hall Wigmore Hall is a concert hall located at 36 Wigmore Street, London. Originally called Bechstein Hall, it specialises in performances of chamber music, early music, vocal music and song recitals. It is widely regarded as one of the world's leadin ...

Queen Elizabeth Hall The Queen Elizabeth Hall (QEH) is a music venue on the South Bank in London, England, that hosts classical, jazz, and avant-garde music, talks and dance performances. It was opened in 1967, with a concert conducted by Benjamin Britten. The ...

, the

Purcell Room The Purcell Room is a concert and performance venue which forms part of the Southbank Centre, one of central London's leading cultural complexes. It is named after the 17th century England, English composer Henry Purcell and has 370 seats. The Pu ...

, the BBC Proms, the

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Op ...

, and in the US, Japan, South Africa, and across Europe.

Career

Farrington played the piano at the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics with Rowan Atkinson (as

Mr. Bean ''Mr. Bean'' is a British sitcom created by Rowan Atkinson and Richard Curtis, produced by Tiger Aspect and starring Atkinson as the title character. The sitcom consists of 15 episodes that were co-written by Atkinson alongside Curtis and R ...

), the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle (and appeared as a runner in Mr. Bean's dream sequence) He has made two solo piano recordings featuring his own compositions and arrangements, ''Fiesta!'' and ''Piano Songs''. His solo performance in the Proms 2007 on the Royal Albert Hall organ was critically acclaimed. In 2013 he featured as a piano soloist in Howard Goodall's 'Story of Music' on BBC Television. He has performed the organ works of Schoenberg in concerts for the Schoenberg family in Los Angeles At the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London he performed Ligeti's ''Continuum'' for solo harpsichord in 2012. As a composer, Farrington has written orchestral, choral and chamber works. His orchestral work ''Wing It'' was composed for the ''Wallace and Gromit'' Prom in 2012. His choral work ''The Burning Heavens'' premiered with Twickenham Choral in 2009 and was nominated for a British Composer Award in 2010. His organ suite, ''Fiesta!,'' has been performed extensively and recorded several times. His organ work ''Animal Parade'' has been recorded and was featured at the 2011 Lord Mayor's Show in St Paul's Cathedral, London, with narration by Brian Blessed.

Arrangements

Farrington has made numerous arrangements for orchestra, choir and chamber ensemble. He has made many arrangements of the music of Edward Elgar. His arrangement of Elgar's ''Pomp and Circumstance March No. 5'' was performed at the 2011 Royal Wedding. His other organ arrangements of Elgar have been recorded at Westminster Abbey by Robert Quinney. Farrington has made a version of Elgar's ''Concert Allegro'' for piano and orchestra which he has recorded, as well as his solo piano arrangement of Elgar's ''2nd Symphony.'' He has also transcribed Elgar's ''Five Piano Improvisations'' and made piano versions of ''Falstaff'', the ''1st Symphony'', and the Elgar/Payne '' 3rd Symphony''. He is the Arranger in Residence for the Aurora Orchestra, and has made many reduced versions of orchestral and choral works for chamber ensembles. Orchestral works include Bernstein's ''Symphonic Dances from West Side Story'', Brahms ''Hungarian Dance No. 5'' (performed at the Proms 2010), Mahler's ''1st Symphony'', ''Das Lied von der Erde'' and ''Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen''. He has also done arrangements/reductions of opera scores including Dvorak's ''Rusalka'', Janáček's ''The Cunning Little Vixen'' and Tippett's ''King Priam''. Choral works arranged include Bach's ''

Christ lag in Todesbanden "" (also ""; "Christ lay in death's bonds") is an Easter hymn by Martin Luther. Its melody is by Luther and Johann Walter. Both the text and the melody were based on earlier examples. It was published in 1524 in the Erfurt ''Enchiridion'' and i ...

'' (for

English Touring Opera English Touring Opera (ETO) is an opera company in the United Kingdom founded in 1979 under the name Opera 80 by the then-existing Arts Council of Great Britain. In 1992 the company changed to its present name. Today it is sponsored in part by Ar ...

) and Brahms ''A German Requiem''.

BBC Proms

Farrington orchestrated and arranged all the songs for the ''

Horrible Histories ''Horrible Histories'' is an educational entertainment franchise encompassing many media including books, magazines, audio books, stage shows, TV shows, and more. In 2013, Lisa Edwards, UK publishing and commercial director of Scholastic Corpora ...

'' Prom in 2011. He was commissioned to compose a "mash-up" piece for the 2020 Proms season based on Beethoven's Nine Symphonies. It was recorded by all the five

BBC orchestras BBC Orchestras and Singers refers collectively to a number of orchestras, choirs and other musical ensembles, maintained by the BBC. Current operation All of the BBC’s Orchestras and Singers record performances primarily for BBC Radio 3, with ...

and 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 ...

in a "Grand Virtual Orchestra" of some 350 performers and was broadcast on

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

on 19 July 2020.

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Farrington, Iain English classical pianists Male classical pianists English classical organists British male organists Composers for pipe organ Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge 1977 births English classical composers 21st-century classical composers Living people Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music English male classical composers British male pianists 21st-century classical pianists 21st-century organists 21st-century British male musicians Male classical organists