5 Organists accompany Poscimur in our services.
A graduate of Bristol University, trained additionally as a music teacher at the London Institute of Education. He is a fellow of the Royal College of Organists and has been conductor of Dartford Choral Society since 1984. He was Director of Music at Dartford Grammar School for Boys from 1975 to 1992 and was appointed Rochester Diocesan Organ Adviser in 1989. First prize winner at the 1983 West of England Organ Festival, he has subsequently given recitals at St. Paul's, Southwark and Rochester Cathedrals, and in many churches throughout London and the provinces.
A former organist of Dartford Parish Church, he is currently Organist and
Choirmaster of St Nicholas Church, Chislehurst.
John Davenport is Director of Music at Bolton School, Lancashire - a post he has held for the past 10 years. He trained at the Royal Academy of Music, where he was the Henry Smart Organ Scholar. He became an FRCO at the age of 19. He was Organ Scholar at Peterhouse, Cambridge and then undertook further study at York University. He has given recitals at many venues around the country.
His teaching career has involved work in state and independent schools,including eleven years of being Director of Music and Organist at Clifton College. He is an examiner for the Associated Board.
As well as teaching, John Davenport is a freelance organist, and also a cellist and
conductor.
David Houlder was born in Liverpool but is also a proud Prestonian. Educated at Preston Grammar School, he studied organ there with John Robinson, gaining his ARCO at the age of 16 and FRCO a year later. He read music at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge for the M.A. degree, continuing his organ studies with Arnold Richardson in London. He embarked upon a teaching career as Music Master at Wirral Grammar School for Boys. From 1981 to 1999 he was Director of Music at Liverpool's historic Blue Coat School.
In 1987 David was appointed Sub-Organist of Liverpool Cathedral, latterly combining that position with a freelance career, both as recitalist and accompanist. He has played almost all the cathedral organs in Great Britain and in 2001 he enjoyed a stint as Acting-Assistant Organist of York Minster. He has appeared in concert regularly with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir and has recorded with them on several occasions. He has been Official Accompanist for the Liverpool Festival of Music & Drama as well as the Liverpool Education Authority.
David specialises in organ and piano transcriptions of orchestral scores and is in demand as an accompanist to choral societies in the North of England. Recent performances have included Durufle: Requiem, Handel: Israel in Egypt, Rutter: Magnificat, Schubert: Mass in A flat, and Vaughan Williams: Serenade to Music and Toward the Unknown Region. In August 2003, he was the organist on a recording of The Church Music of Paul Drayton by the Liverpool Chamber Choir.
After almost thirty years music-making on Merseyside, David moved across the Pennines in October 2003, having accepted the post of Sub-Organist at Leeds Parish Church.
His non-musical interests include shipping, railways and photography.
Francesca Massey took up the post of Assistant Director of Music at
Peterborough Cathedral in September 2007. She was educated at Cambridge University and the Royal Northern College of Music, where she held an ABRSM Scholarship and graduated with a distinction, as well as winning the Organ Recital Prize. Francesca has held Organ Scholar posts at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle (also acting as Assistant Organist for one term), Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge and Manchester Cathedral. In addition she has been Acting Precentor at Caius College and Assistant Organist at Great St. Mary's Church, Cambridge, as well as teaching for the University's Faculty of Music.
At the age of 19, Francesca gained all of the top prizes in the FRCO diploma and has since been awarded the WT Best Memorial Scholarship and Silver Medal of the Worshipful Company of Musicians, and the Musicians Benevolent Fund's Ian Fleming Award. She has studied with Jeremy Filsell, Kevin Bowyer, David Goode and Andrew Fletcher.
Francesca's recital venues have included many major concert halls, cathedrals and churches in the UK, and she has also performed throughout South Africa, Sardinia, Sweden and Denmark with Caius Choir, with whom she has recorded a number of acclaimed CDs.
Director of Music at Wilmington Grammar School for Girls. Private Piano teacher. Previously Organist of St. Margaret's, Lee, St. Mary's, Plaistow, Holy Trinity, Dartford, and currently Organist and Choir Director of St. John's, Sidcup