Saint Thomas Church Appoints Daniel Hyde New Organist & Director of Music

The Rector, Wardens, and Vestry are delighted to announce the appointment of Professor Daniel Hyde as the 22nd Organist and Director of Music of Saint Thomas Church. Daniel Hyde has been the Informator Choristarum, Organist, and Tutorial Fellow in Music at Magdalen College, Oxford since 2009. He is also a University Lecturer in the Faculty of Music.

Hyde, who joins the Music Department at Saint Thomas Church in August, 2016, succeeds John Scott who passed away in August 2015 after eleven years as the Organist and Director of Music. The announcement concludes an extensive search led by a special search committee comprised of the Rector, Wardens, members of the Vestry and church community leaders.

"The Headmaster and I are thrilled with this appointment," says Rector Carl Turner. "The Search Committee has served the Church well and considered a large number of applications from around the world. The process was thorough and demanding, and I am delighted that there was a unanimous decision to offer the post to Daniel Hyde. Dan is a remarkable musician who already has an international reputation, a strong faith and a working knowledge and love of the liturgy of the church and we believe that he will be a worthy successor to John Scott. It is clear that Dan will fit well into our parish life, and we very much look forward to welcoming him this summer."

Hyde says: "I am thrilled and honored to accept the position of Organist and Director of Music at Saint Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue, New York. It is a very exciting prospect to be moving to New York, and I look forward to working with the Rector, Vestry, Headmaster, colleagues and all the musicians of the Saint Thomas Choir. It is an enormous privilege to be invited to become the steward and guardian of this iconic choral legacy; John Scott was a mentor and inspiration to so many of my generation, and I am humbled to be called to carry on his work and to be a part of the next chapter in the life of Saint Thomas Church."

About DANIEL HYDE A former chorister and organ scholar of Durham Cathedral, Daniel was Assistant Organist at Perth Cathedral, Western Australia, before taking up the organ scholarship to King's College, Cambridge. Upon graduation from King's with First Class Honors in Music, Daniel was appointed as Director of Music at Jesus College, Cambridge. During his time there he was responsible for overseeing the development of the College's two choirs and was responsible for the design and installation of a new organ in the chapel.

As an organist, he won second prize and the audience prize in the RCO Performer of the Year Competition 2002 and has since performed across four continents. Recent recital engagements have taken him to the USA, Germany, and Holland; he has performed throughout Australia, including the Sydney Opera House and the Adelaide Town Hall. Closer to home, he has recently played in the St. David's and Easter at King's Festivals; St. Paul's, Gloucester; Christ Church and Durham Cathedrals; Windsor Castle; Birmingham Town Hall; and the Wigmore Hall. He has been a concerto soloist with the BBC Philharmonic and the Britten Sinfonia, with whom he has performed the Poulenc Concerto a number of times, and has recorded the Hindemith Concerto to great critical acclaim. A disc of Christmas Organ Music from King's was released in 2008. A regular accompanist to the BBC Singers on Radio Three, he has appeared at the BBC Proms on numerous occasions and made his solo debut there in the 2010 season performing Bach's Canonic Variations on the organ of the Royal Albert Hall. As an ensemble player, he has appeared with the Britten Sinfonia, Aurora Orchestra, Gabrieli Consort, and the Academy of Ancient Music.

Since moving to Magdalen College in 2009, he has often collaborated with the viol consort Phantasm, with whom he has given concerts and broadcasts at the Wigmore Hall and in Vienna, and Finland, as well as recording for Linn Records. Formerly Director of Cambridge University Chamber Choir and the locally based Harlow Chorus, Daniel was more recently Assistant Director and Accompanist to the London Bach Choir. Increasingly in demand as a conductor, he has worked with the Britten Sinfonia, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, the City of London Sinfonia, the Players of the Orchestra of the Sixteen, and the International Baroque Players. In Oxford, he has collaborated with the Philomusica and has also engaged Oxford Baroque to join Magdalen College Choir on numerous occasions. Magdalen College Choir enjoys an exclusive recording contract with Opus Arte, the label of the Royal Opera House.

Recent and forthcoming engagements include concerts at the London Oratory, the St. Albans International Organ Festival, and summer festivals in Germany, Finland, and Edington. In 2014, he gave a recital as part of the RCO annual conferment of diplomas, the occasion at which the College marked its 150th anniversary. In the academic year 2014/15, he gave a series of recitals celebrating the inauguration of the new Dobson organ at Merton College surveying the complete organ works of J. S. Bach. www.danielhyde.co.uk.

THE SAINT THOMAS CHOIR & CHOIR SCHOOL

The Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys is considered by many to be the leading ensemble in the Anglican choral tradition in the United States. The choir performs regularly with the period instrument ensemble, Concert Royal, or with the Orchestra of St. Luke's as part of its own concert series. Its primary raison d'être, however, is to provide music for five choral services each week. Live webcasts of all choral services and further information including recordings of the choir may be found at www.SaintThomasChurch.org

Supplementing its choral services and concert series over the past three decades, the choir has toured throughout the U.S. and Europe with performances at Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's Cathedral in London, Kings College, Cambridge, Windsor, Edinburgh, St. Albans and the Aldeburgh Festival. In 2004, the choir toured Italy, and performed for a Papal Mass at the Vatican. During 2007, the choir performed Bach's Saint Matthew Passion for the opening concert of the Mexico Festival in Mexico City as well as at Saint Thomas Church. In February 2012, the Boys of the choir traveled to Dresden to give the premiere of Lera Auerbach's Dresden Requiem with the Dresden Staatskapelle in the Frauenkirche and Semper Oper. Later in 2012, the choir was invited to perform in the Thomaskirche at the Leipzig BachFest, a highlight of their June 2012 tour to Germany and Copenhagen.

In addition to the annual performances of Handel's Messiah, concerts at Saint Thomas have included Requiems by Fauré, Brahms, Mozart, Duruflé and Howells; Bach's Passions and Mass in B Minor; the Monteverdi Vespers of 1610; a Henry Purcell anniversary concert; Rachmaninoff Vespers; the U.S. premiere of John Tavener's Mass; a concert of American composers featuring works by Bernstein and Copland and a composition by Saint Thomas chorister, Daniel Castellanos; the world premiere of Scott Eyerly's Spires and a concert of music by Benjamin Britten.

The Men of the Saint Thomas Choir are professional singers; the Boy choristers attend Saint Thomas Choir School. Founded in 1919, it is the only church related boarding choir school in the United States, and one of only a few choir schools remaining in the world. The Choir School offers a challenging pre-preparatory curriculum, interscholastic sports, and musical training for boys in grades three through eight. The Choir School is committed to training and educating talented musicians without regard to religious, economic, or social background. Choristers are sought from all regions of the country. Details of admissions procedures and audition requirements are available at www.ChoirSchool.org

WEBSITES

www.SaintThomasChurch.org/music/concerts

www.danielhyde.co.uk.