Michael Stockwin Howard (14 September 1922 – 4 January 2002) was an English choral conductor, organist and composer. He was an important part of the Early Music movement in the middle of the last century, in particular as a celebrated interpreter of 16th century polyphony In his later years he made notable recordings of the late French Romantic school of organ composers, particularly

César Franck César-Auguste Jean-Guillaume Hubert Franck (; 10 December 1822 – 8 November 1890) was a French Romantic composer, pianist, organist, and music teacher born in modern-day Belgium. He was born in Liège (which at the time of his birth was pa ...

, on the Cavaillé Coll organ at St. Michael's Abbey in Farnborough. The National Pipe Organ Register now claims that the organ appears in a list of organs by Mutin (originally attributed to Aristide Cavaille-Coll). Educated at

Ellesmere College (''Striving for one's country'') , established = 1879 , song = ''Jerusalem'' , type = Public schoolIndependent schoolBoarding schoolDay School , religious_affiliation = Church of England , president = , head_label ...

, Shropshire, Michael went on to study Organ (with G.D. Cunningham) and Composition (with

William Alwyn William Alwyn (born William Alwyn Smith; 7 November 1905 – 11 September 1985), was an English composer, conductor, and music teacher. Life and music William Alwyn was born William Alwyn Smith in Northampton, the son of Ada Tyler (Tompkins ...

) at the Royal Academy of Music in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

. His organ studies continued with Ralph Downes at the Brompton Oratory, London, and

Marcel Dupré Marcel Jean-Jules Dupré () (3 May 1886 – 30 May 1971) was a French organist, composer, and pedagogue. Biography Born in Rouen into a wealthy musical family, Marcel Dupré was a child prodigy. His father Aimable Albert Dupré was titular o ...

at St Sulpice in Paris. In 1944 he founded The Renaissance Singers with whom he gave numerous concerts and made many recordings and broadcasts for the next twenty years. He was organist of

Tewkesbury Abbey The Abbey Church of St Mary the Virgin, Tewkesbury–commonly known as Tewkesbury Abbey–is located in the English county of Gloucestershire. A former Benedictine monastery, it is now a parish church. Considered one of the finest examples of No ...

(1943–1944), Christ Church,

Woburn Square Woburn Square is the smallest of the Bloomsbury squares and owned by the University of London. Designed by Thomas Cubitt and built between 1829 and 1847, it is named after Woburn Abbey, the main country seat of the Dukes of Bedford, who develope ...

in London (1945–1950), Ely Cathedral (1953–1958), St. Marylebone Parish Church in London (1971–1979) and at St. Michael's Abbey in Farnborough (1984–1986). In the 1960s he formed and conducted the sixteen-voice group Cantores in Ecclesia.

References

External links

Information about the premiere recordings of Michael Howard's Seven Songs for Countertenor
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20110723090751/http://www.heraldav.co.uk/catalogue?diskNum=154 Link to a recording made at Farnborough Abbey by Michael Howardbr>Link to a recording made at Farnborough Abbey by Michael HowardLink to a recording made at Farnborough Abbey by Michael HowardLink to a BBC Classics reissue of Music for Westminster Abbey (Purcell) by Michael Howard and Cantores in EcclesiaLink to reissues by L'Oiseau Lyre of recordings of Byrd made by Michael Howard and Cantores in Ecclesia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, Michael Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music 20th-century classical composers Composers for pipe organ English classical composers English classical organists British male organists Organ improvisers Cathedral organists People from Groombridge 1922 births 2002 deaths Musicians from London English male classical composers 20th-century English composers Organists of Ely Cathedral 20th-century organists 20th-century British male musicians Male classical organists