David Briggs

David Briggs

is an internationally renowned organist who has built a worldwide reputation as an innovative musician and dazzling performer. Increasingly sought after for his orchestral transcriptions and improvisation, his performances are applauded for their musicality, virtuosity and ability to excite and engage audiences of all ages.

David studied organ with Jean Langlais in Paris. The first British winner of the Tournemire Prize at the St Albans International Improvisation Competition, he also won the first prize in the International Improvisation Competition at Paisley. At the age of 17 he obtained his FRCO (Fellow of the Royal College of Organists) diploma, winning the Silver Medal of the Worshipful Company of Musicians.

David Briggs is Organist Emeritus of 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. A gifted and inspirational teacher, David regularly gives masterclasses at Oxford and Cambridge, and is frequently invited to serve on international competition juries.

David’s schedule includes more than 50 concerts a year.  Recent engagements in Europe include the Royal Albert Hall, Westminster Abbey and St Paul’s Cathedral in London; Notre Dame de Paris; Symphony Hall, Birmingham; King’s College Cambridge; Bath Abbey; Cologne Cathedral, Germany; Sibelius Hall, Lahti, Finland; and Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall. US concert venues include Severance Hall, Cleveland, Washington’s National Cathedral, St Ignatius Loyola and St Bartholomew’s in New York City, Grace Cathedral, San Francisco and Union Station in Cincinnati. In July 2009, David was a featured recitalist for the AGO’s Region I and II convention in Boston. He was invited to perform in the closing concert of the American Guild of Organists’ National Convention in Washington D.C. in July 2010. On 14th August 2010 David made his BBC Proms Concert debut at a concert in The Royal Albert Hall, London, which was broadcast live to an audience of over two million. Further 2011/12 engagements include concerts in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Scotland, France, Belgium, Germany and Sweden, as well as in the United States and Canada.

With an extensive repertoire spanning five centuries, David is also frequently asked to perform improvisation to silent films such as Phantom of the Opera, Nosferatu, Jeanne d’Arc and Fritz Lang’s Metropolis. His annual silent film performance in Nurnberg’s Sebaldplatz has become a highlight of International Organ Week.

David’s organ transcriptions of orchestral symphonies, which include Schubert 8, Tchaikovsky 4, Bruckner 7, Mahler 5 and 6, and Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloe, are becoming increasingly popular and have been praised by critics for helping make organ music accessible to broader audiences. He is also a prolific composer and his works range from full scale oratorios to works for solo instruments. Dreamworld, a song cycle for tenor and piano, his Requiem, and transcriptions of Tchaikovsky 4 and Schubert 8, have been released on the independent music label Chestnut Music. In July 2009, the choir of Trinity College, Cambridge recorded a CD featuring David’s music, including the Messe pour Notre-Dame, on the Hyperion label.

In 2008, BBC Music Magazine selected David to record a disc celebrating the French composers Widor and Vierne. Recorded at St Sernin in Toulouse, the CD was the March 2008 BBC Music Magazine cover CD; a DVD, Bombarde 32!, featuring highlights of the recording, was produced by Chestnut Music. He has also recorded 27 solo CDs including his transcription of Mahler 5, Bach at Gloucester, and Organ Spectacular, recorded on the largest church organ in the world:  First Congregational Church in Los Angeles.

David Briggs now lives in Ipswich, Massachusetts and is represented by Chestnut Music.