David Briggs

About David Briggs

David Briggs studied organ with Jean Langlais in Paris. He has built an international career as a concert organist which has taken him to more than 20 countries and has a reputation as an innovative organist, particularly for his orchestral transcriptions and his art of improvisation. He has transcribed a large number of the improvisations of Pierre Cochereau, the celebrated organist of Notre-Dame de Paris. He won the first prize in the International Improvisation Competition at Paisley and was the first British winner of the Tournemire Prize at the St Albans International Improvisation Competition. David gives regular masterclasses at the Royal Northern College of Music and Cambridge University and frequently serves on international competition juries.

Having held positions at Truro and Hereford Cathedrals as well as King’s College, Cambridge, where he was Organ Scholar, David is Organist Emeritus at Gloucester Cathedral, where he directed the music for eight years. While at Gloucester, he oversaw the complete rebuilding of the Cathedral organ by Nicholson, and directed the Three Choirs Festivals, conducting some of the UK’s finest professional orchestras, notably the Philharmonia.

David Briggs is also a prolific composer and his works range from full scale oratorios to works for solo instruments (including the carillon!) Recent commissions include a setting of the St John Passion for choir, chamber orchestra and soloists; a setting of the Solemn Requiem Mass; an Organ Concerto and a Song Cycle, ‘Dreamworld’. Orchestral transcriptions include Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.4, Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7, Schubert’s ‘Unfinished Symphony’, Mahler No. 5 and Ravel’s Daphnis & Chloe. David has recorded 24 solo organ CD’s which have received wide critical acclaim.

In 2004-2005, David has played more than 50 concerts around the world in venues including the Royal Albert Hall in London, Notre-Dame in Paris, the International Performing Centre in Moscow and Severance Hall in Cleveland, Ohio. He is frequently asked to perform improvisations for silent movies including Hunchback of Notre-Dame, Phantom of the Opera, Nosferatu and Charlie Chaplin’s ‘Gold Rush’.

David now lives in New York. For more information and to order CD’s, please visit his website: www.david-briggs.org.uk
 

Web site: http://www.david-briggs.org.uk