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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.
Concert 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 each image for full details ...
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This 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. |
Since 2015 he has been 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
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Some of the 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
Press features & articles include
Click on the images to read each 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
CIORAN
Demonstrating a prodigious talent for the graphic arts from earliest childhood, he began piano lessons at the age of four.
A (Head) chorister at Canterbury Cathedral, he began organ lessons at 14 in London, and subsequently studied at 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.
A (Head) chorister at Canterbury Cathedral, he began organ lessons at 14 in London, and subsequently studied at 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 |
His duets concerts with Jane Parker-Smith met great enthusiasm. Hear them play :
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Hear two of works of Odile Pierre's and an encore of Jennifer Bate:
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and two works of Jean Guillou:
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IN MEMORIAM 2020 saw the deaths of three outstanding organists who had been D'Arcy's mentors at different stages of his development from his earliest days at the organ: Jennifer Bate Jane Parker-Smith Odile Pierre. He paid heartfelt tributes to two of these towering artists in Choir & Organ. |
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Daniel Chorzempa (1944-2023)
"I was saddened by his death: an outstanding musician I so admired and was so inspired by. I so nearly became his pupil." |
Nicolas Kynaston (1941-2024)
"One of the great artists who - from hearing his recordings constantly played at home in the background whilst I was sitting in my pram - became one of the people I most respected and admired." |
"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 it 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 it offers the greatest gifts."
ODILE PIERRE
Battle of the organs...
With John Scott Whiteley - Selby Abbey 2018
CLICK to read a commentary on a concert with a difference.
In addition to the above, he has been invited on several significant occasions to appear at Selby Abbey over the years. These have included:
# The recording of a solo DVD recital as part of the Abbey Trust's programme to fundraise for the restoration of the famous Hill organ.
# The 'Grand Celebration' gala concert celebrating the completition of the organ restoration (2016) in which he played a concerto with the Royal Northern Sinfonia.
# A concerto with the Manchester Camerata at the concert celebrating the Abbey's 950th years (2019)
# Repeat appearances in the Abbey's highly successful Celebrity Recital Series in 2015, 2016,
2017 and 2013 (see below)
With John Scott Whiteley - Selby Abbey 2018
CLICK to read a commentary on a concert with a difference.
In addition to the above, he has been invited on several significant occasions to appear at Selby Abbey over the years. These have included:
# The recording of a solo DVD recital as part of the Abbey Trust's programme to fundraise for the restoration of the famous Hill organ.
# The 'Grand Celebration' gala concert celebrating the completition of the organ restoration (2016) in which he played a concerto with the Royal Northern Sinfonia.
# A concerto with the Manchester Camerata at the concert celebrating the Abbey's 950th years (2019)
# Repeat appearances in the Abbey's highly successful Celebrity Recital Series in 2015, 2016,
2017 and 2013 (see below)
In 2013 he presented a recital to celebrate American Independence Day featuring an all-American programme of virtuoso works by Buck, Parker, Lemare, Hampton, etc.
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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 (USA) - 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 www.musimem.com |
D'Arcy has worked as a church musician only at various intervals in his career, preferring his freedom to follow his concert career:
Organist & Director of Arts - St Paul's, Hammersmith Broadway, London
(1991-1997)
Organist ~ St Augustine's, Kensington, London
(2001-2004)
Organist - Worth Abbey
(2011-2023).
Organist & Director of Arts - St Paul's, Hammersmith Broadway, London
(1991-1997)
Organist ~ St Augustine's, Kensington, London
(2001-2004)
Organist - Worth Abbey
(2011-2023).
“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