Stephen Mark Darlington (born 21 September 1952) is a British choral director and conductor, and president of the

Royal College of Organists The Royal College of Organists (RCO) is a charity and membership organisation based in the United Kingdom, with members worldwide. Its role is to promote and advance organ playing and choral music, and it offers music education, training and de ...

from 1999–2001. Darlington attended

King's School, Worcester The King's School, Worcester is an English independent day school refounded by Henry VIII in 1541. It occupies a site adjacent to Worcester Cathedral on the banks of the River Severn in the centre of the city of Worcester. It offers mixed-sex m ...

. Then during the early 1970s, he was

organ scholar An organ scholar is a young musician employed as a part-time assistant organist at a cathedral, church or institution where regular choral services are held. The idea of an organ scholarship is to provide the holder with playing, directing and adm ...

at Christ Church, Oxford, studying under

Simon Preston Simon John Preston (4 August 1938 – 13 May 2022) was an English organist, conductor, and composer.
...

. After this he was appointed assistant

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists. In addition, an organist may accompany congregational h ...

at Canterbury Cathedral, where he stayed for four years before being appointed as Master of the Music for St Albans Cathedral Choir, where he was also music director of the International Organ Festival. In 1985, Darlington returned to Christ Church as organist and tutor in music, holding the post for 33 years. He was succeeded by Stephen Grahl in September 2018. Darlington's recorded works amount to over 50 albums, of which several have won awards and other recognition such as Gramophone recommendations. Darlington has travelled worldwide both with the choir and as an organist and conductor, directing, among others, the

Australian Brandenburg Orchestra The Australian Brandenburg Orchestra (ABO) is an Australian period instrument orchestra specialising in the performance of baroque and classical music. Founders The orchestra's founder and artistic director is Paul Dyer. In 2013 Dyer was a ...

London Mozart Players London Mozart Players (LMP) are a British chamber orchestra founded in 1949. LMP are the longest-established chamber orchestra in the United Kingdom. Since 1989, the orchestra has been Resident Orchestra at Fairfield Halls, Croydon. History B ...

English Chamber Orchestra The English Chamber Orchestra (ECO) is a British chamber orchestra based in London. The full orchestra regularly plays concerts at Cadogan Hall, and their ensemble performs at Wigmore Hall. The orchestra regularly tours in the UK and internationall ...

Northern Sinfonia Royal Northern Sinfonia is a British chamber orchestra, founded in Newcastle upon Tyne and currently based in Gateshead. For the first 46 years of its history, the orchestra gave most of its concerts at the Newcastle City Hall. Since 2004, the ...

Hanover Band The Hanover Band is a British orchestra specialised in historically informed performance, founded by its artistic director, Caroline Brown. The group's website explains the name thus: '' 'Hanover' signifies the Hanoverian period 1714-1830 and ' ...

, English String Orchestra and

London Musici London Musici is a chamber orchestra founded in 1988 by Mark Stephenson. It has given over 1000 performances as the associate orchestra for the Rambert Dance Company Rambert (known as Rambert Dance Company before 2014) is a leading British da ...

. Christ Church choir have sung under his direction with

Plácido Domingo José Plácido Domingo Embil (born 21 January 1941) is a Spanish opera singer, conductor, and arts administrator. He has recorded over a hundred complete operas and is well known for his versatility, regularly performing in Italian, French ...

, José Carreras, James Bowman and others. He has also collaborated with contemporary composers including

John Tavener Sir John Kenneth Tavener (28 January 1944 – 12 November 2013) was an English composer, known for his extensive output of choral religious works. Among his best known works are '' The Lamb'' (1982), ''The Protecting Veil'' (1988), and '' Song ...

and Howard Goodall (e.g., the theme music for ''

The Vicar of Dibley ''The Vicar of Dibley'' is a British sitcom which originally ran on BBC One from 10 November 1994 to 1 January 2007. It is set in a fictional small Oxfordshire village called Dibley, which is assigned a female vicar following the 1992 changes ...

''), and was featured in Goodall's ''ChoirWorks'' and ''OrganWorks'' series. Darlington was

Choragus In the theatre of ancient Greece, the ''choregos'' (pl. ''choregoi; el, χορηγός, Greek etymology: χορός "chorus" + ἡγεῖσθαι "to lead") was a wealthy Athenian citizen who assumed the public duty, or ''choregiai'', of financi ...

of the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

and is the holder of a

Lambeth Doctorate A Lambeth degree is an academic degree conferred by the Archbishop of Canterbury under the authority of the Ecclesiastical Licences Act 1533 (25 Hen VIII c 21) (Eng) as successor of the papal legate in England. The degrees conferred most commonl ...

. He is the brother of conductor

Jonathan Darlington Jonathan Philip Darlington (born 1956 in Lapworth, England) is a British conductor, Music Director Emeritus of the Vancouver Opera and the former Music Director of the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra. He is known for his broad repertoire of both ...

. He retired in 2018. He was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2019 New Year Honours for services to Music.

References

External links

Stephen Darlington information
1952 births Living people Place of birth missing (living people) People educated at King's School, Worcester Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford English conductors (music) British male conductors (music) English classical organists British male organists Cathedral organists Fellows of Christ Church, Oxford 21st-century British conductors (music) Members of the Order of the British Empire 21st-century organists 21st-century British male musicians Male classical organists {{organist-stub