Simon Preston

Simon Preston made his début at the Royal Festival Hall, London in 1962, however, prior to that, devotees of the annual Christmas Eve broadcast from King’s College, Cambridge had heard Simon Preston accompanying the Choir from the Chapel, where he had been a chorister as a boy, and where he returned later as Organ Scholar. Shortly after his London début, Preston was appointed Sub-Organist of Westminster Abbey, and later that same year made his BBS Proms début. During that period he worked under famous conductors including Leopold Stokowski, Pierre Monteux, Leonard Bernstein and Benjamin Britten. From 1981-1987, he was Organist and Master of the Choristers at Westminster Abbey. He was also responsible for writing much of the “Salieri” music in the movie Amadeus.

A highly sought-after concert organist, he recorded Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony with Berlin Philharmonic and James Levine, Poulenc Concerto for Organ, Strings and Timpani with the Boston Symphony and Seiji Ozawa, and Copland Symphony for Organ and Orchestra with St Louis Symphony Orchestra and Leonard Slatkin.

Described by a Vienna newspaper as “a living legend”, Simon’s recording career began nearly fifty-five years ago. Currently nearly fifty of his CDs are still available, including versions of the Handel Organ Concertos with both Yehudi Menuhin and Trevor Pinnock. He was awarded an Edison Classique and a Grand Prix du Disque. In 2000, Deutsche Grammophon launched his complete recording of Bach’s organ works.

Classic CD recently named Simon Preston in its list, “The Greatest Players of the Century,” which included the entire classical music world. In 2009 Simon Preston was made a C.B.E (Commander of the British Empire); in 2011 he was made an honorary Student at Christ Church, Oxford University and was awarded an honorary doctorate by Mount Royal University in Canada.