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"The organ is an evocative instrument. Upon touching it the magination is awakened, and the unforeseen rises from the depths of the unconscious. It is a world of its own, always new, which will never be seen again, which comes out of the darkness, as an enchanted island rises from the Sea."
SAINT-SAENS "Tradition is laziness." LISZT |
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“I must tell you I take terrible risks. Because my playing is very clear, when I make a mistake you hear it. If you want me to play only the notes without any specific dynamics, I will never make one mistake. Never be afraid to dare."
VLADIMIR HOROWITZ "Taste isn't created from scratch. It is born of influences, cultivated by desire and maintained by knowledge." PIERRE BERGE |
"The Orchestra is an Oil Painting, but The Organ is a Stained Glass Window."
HENRI MULET
HENRI MULET
PLEASE NOTE
The following text is for this website only.
Promoters requiring an appropriate biography should request one.
Performing recitals, concertos, radio and television broadcasts in concert halls, cathedrals, and churches worldwide, D'Arcy has been a regular performer at international festivals and celebrity series from London to Edinburgh, Paris to Salzburg, Berlin to Münich, Oslo to Ghent, Buenos Aires to Los Angeles, Copenhagen to Montevideo etc.
Recent appearances have included both the reopening of the restored organ and 950th anniversary celebrations of Selby Abbey; his fifth recital at Madeleine, Paris; City of London Festival, Edinburgh Festival, Leeds International Concert Season, Carlisle International Summer Festival, Mananan International Festival of Music and the Arts, Festival Permanente de Buenos Aires (Argentina), Festival Internacional del Uruguay (Montevideo), Bonner Reger Internationale Tagen (Bonn), Berlin Cathedral Orgelzyklus, Basilika Konzerte Kevelaer, Passau International Organ Festival, Münich International Organ Series, Orgelsommer Darmstadt, Gents Orgelcentrum Europees Orgelfestival, Vox Organi Festival (Belgium), Olomouc International Festival (Czech Republic), XVI Rassegna Internazionale d’Organo ‘Citta della Spezia’ (Italy), Wimbledon International Music Festival, Dimanches Musicaux de la Madeleine, Reutlinger Orgelsommer, Gummarusconcerten Lier, Chemin des Orgues (Troyes), Festival International d’Orgue de Sens, Les Heures Musicales du Havre, Les Éstivales d’Orgue, the 27th Festival International d’Orgue in Bordeaux Cathedral, Radio-France Festival Montpellier Cathedral, Points d’Orgue Saint-Florentin etc.
Recent appearances have included both the reopening of the restored organ and 950th anniversary celebrations of Selby Abbey; his fifth recital at Madeleine, Paris; City of London Festival, Edinburgh Festival, Leeds International Concert Season, Carlisle International Summer Festival, Mananan International Festival of Music and the Arts, Festival Permanente de Buenos Aires (Argentina), Festival Internacional del Uruguay (Montevideo), Bonner Reger Internationale Tagen (Bonn), Berlin Cathedral Orgelzyklus, Basilika Konzerte Kevelaer, Passau International Organ Festival, Münich International Organ Series, Orgelsommer Darmstadt, Gents Orgelcentrum Europees Orgelfestival, Vox Organi Festival (Belgium), Olomouc International Festival (Czech Republic), XVI Rassegna Internazionale d’Organo ‘Citta della Spezia’ (Italy), Wimbledon International Music Festival, Dimanches Musicaux de la Madeleine, Reutlinger Orgelsommer, Gummarusconcerten Lier, Chemin des Orgues (Troyes), Festival International d’Orgue de Sens, Les Heures Musicales du Havre, Les Éstivales d’Orgue, the 27th Festival International d’Orgue in Bordeaux Cathedral, Radio-France Festival Montpellier Cathedral, Points d’Orgue Saint-Florentin etc.
"He who would trace the mere outlines of the model before his eyes with uncomprehending fidelity,
without imbuing them with the interpretation of passions and emotions drawn from life -
he would make a very poor artist, or none at all..."
LISZT
without imbuing them with the interpretation of passions and emotions drawn from life -
he would make a very poor artist, or none at all..."
LISZT
An unusual feature of his career has been his performance of many solo concert series, including a complete Bach cycle.
Others have included: Click on each for full details
Others have included: Click on each for full details
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The above was cancelled due to COVID
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Repeatedly invited to return by promoters. He has, for example given more than 10 recitals in the Été Musical d’Auxerre/Festival International d'Orgue d'Auxerre and 7 in the Kongsberg Internasjonale Orgel Sommer . As much at home performing on great modern instruments as on famous historic ones, he approaches each with a different stylistic awareness and perception. Particular to choose music most suited to express the character of each instrument, each programme is thus a singular undertaking. In addition to the established masterpieces, he has given many premiers and first performances - including the UK premier of Messiaen's Prélude in 2002. |
Alongside his concert career, he is also Organist to the University of Sussex where he gives monthly recitals on the iconic 1966 Grant, Degens & Rippin organ in the University's Meeting House
University of Sussex - a leading, research-intensive university
University of Sussex - a leading, research-intensive university
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Current programme details are listed on the CONCERTS page. Previous series have included:
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On a 'local' level has served as President for both the Crawley & Horsham Organists' Association and the Brighton & District Organists' Association: he is also a member of the Kent Organists' Association.
https://www.chdoa.org.uk
https://www.bdoa.org.uk
https://www.kcoa.org.uk
Receiving his chain of office as President elect of the Brighton & District Organists Association 2023
https://www.chdoa.org.uk
https://www.bdoa.org.uk
https://www.kcoa.org.uk
Receiving his chain of office as President elect of the Brighton & District Organists Association 2023
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D'Arcy has held posts as a church musician only at various intervals in his career: Organist & Director of Arts at St Paul's, Hammersmith Broadway, London (1991-1997): Organist of St Augustine's, Kensington, London (2001-2004): Organist of Worth Abbey (2011-2023).
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Press features & articles include Click on each image to see article
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An Organist of Our Time
The Organ Magazine www.theorganmag.com |
Ask me a question
Music Journal Incorporated Society of Musicians www.ism.org |
Five Questions
The Lady Organist www.theladyorganist.com |
“Ideas should be neutral. But man animates them with his passions and folly. Impure and turned into beliefs, they take on the appearance of reality.
The passage from logic is consummated. Thus are born ideologies, doctrines, and bloody farce.”
CIORAN
The passage from logic is consummated. Thus are born ideologies, doctrines, and bloody farce.”
CIORAN
D’Arcy demonstrated a prodigious talent for the graphic arts from earliest childhood. He began piano lessons at the age of four and was later Head Chorister at Canterbury Cathedral. Subsequently studied in London, the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester, and in Paris; his teachers and mentors were Allan Wicks, H. A. and Jennifer Bate, Jane Parker-Smith, Jean Guillou and Odile Pierre.
With Jennifer Bate
1978 
H. A. Bate at the organ of
St James', Muswell Hill, London |
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With Odile Pierre, Canterbury Festival 1990
At work - a lesson with Odile Pierre, 1993 |
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2020 saw the deaths of three outstanding organists who had each been D'Arcy's mentors at different stages of his development: Jennifer Bate, Jane Parker-Smith & Odile Pierre. He paid heartfelt tributes to two of these towering artists in Choir & Organ. |
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His own teaching has included coaching, masterclasses, and examining at conservatoires and colleges at home and abroad. For some years he taught at Oxford.
"Sooner or later you will recognise that complete freedom does not exist. Do not give in to pure fantasy, nor to current fashions.
One cannot pursue an ideal without disciplining oneself – that is as true in art as in science. Do not worry about being original:
that desire is nothing but an intellectual flirtation, for the originality of great artists is unconscious.”
MARCEL DUPRÉ
"You will learn that everything in life can betray you - health, happiness, money - except for one thing which, believe me,
will never let you down. That one thing is music."
LOUIS VIERNE
"Music can be a tyrant - but offers the greatest gifts."
ODILE PIERRE
One cannot pursue an ideal without disciplining oneself – that is as true in art as in science. Do not worry about being original:
that desire is nothing but an intellectual flirtation, for the originality of great artists is unconscious.”
MARCEL DUPRÉ
"You will learn that everything in life can betray you - health, happiness, money - except for one thing which, believe me,
will never let you down. That one thing is music."
LOUIS VIERNE
"Music can be a tyrant - but offers the greatest gifts."
ODILE PIERRE
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Articles written by D'Arcy Trinkwon include
Allan Wicks - a personal tribute THE ORGAN, May 2010 The Legend of Jeanne Demessieux THE DIAPASON, November 2008 Jeanne Demessieux: Portrait of a Star ORGANISTS' REVIEW, November 2008 reprinted in Organ News, 2018 Jeanne Demessieux Odile Pierre Music et memoria - Orgues et organists (musimem.com) |
“What all artists ought to hold as indisputable – a law that binds them all – is that there is no true art without reflective thought and purpose.”
WIDOR
"As we acquire more knowledge, things do not become more comprehensible but more mysterious."
SCHWEITZER