Andrew Nethsingha, FRCO,

ARCM Associate of the Royal College of Music (ARCM) is a diploma qualification of the Royal College of Music, equivalent to a university first degree. Like the Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music diploma (LRAM), it was offered in teaching or perf ...

(born 16 May 1968) is an English choral conductor and organist, the son of the late

Lucian Nethsingha Lucian Nethsingha (3 May 1936 − 12 February 2021) was a British musician born in Ceylon, who served as organist of Exeter Cathedral from 1973 to 1999.cathedral organist. He was appointed Organist and Master of the Choristers at

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...

in London in 2023, having previous held similar positions at

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corporation established by a charter dated 9 April 1511. Th ...

Gloucester Cathedral Gloucester Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Peter and the Holy and Indivisible Trinity, in Gloucester, England, stands in the north of the city near the River Severn. It originated with the establishment of a minster dedicated to ...

and

Truro Cathedral The Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a Church of England cathedral in the city of Truro, Cornwall. It was built between 1880 and 1910 to a Gothic Revival design by John Loughborough Pearson on the site of the parish church of St Mary. It i ...

.Westminster Abbey, Andrew Nethsingha, Organist and Master of the Choristers
Retrieved 17 January 2023.

Education

Nethsingha's early musical training was at

Exeter Cathedral School Exeter Cathedral School (ECS) is a 3–13 mixed, Church of England, independent day and boarding choir and preparatory school in Exeter, Devon, England. It has been closely associated with Exeter Cathedral since it was first recorded as existin ...

as a chorister of the cathedral, where his father,

Lucian Nethsingha Lucian Nethsingha (3 May 1936 − 12 February 2021) was a British musician born in Ceylon, who served as organist of Exeter Cathedral from 1973 to 1999.Clifton College ''The spirit nourishes within'' , established = 160 years ago , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent boarding and day school , religion = Christian , president = , head_label = Head of College , hea ...

in Bristol, where he studied with Gwilym Isaacs before gaining an organ scholarship to

. He later studied at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a music school, conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the Undergraduate education, undergraduate to the Doctorate, doctoral level in a ...

, where he won seven prizes, and at St John's College. He held organ scholarships under Christopher Robinson at

St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle in England is a castle chapel built in the late-medieval Perpendicular Gothic style. It is both a Royal Peculiar (a church under the direct jurisdiction of the monarch) and the Chapel of the Order of the G ...

, and under

George Guest George Guest CBE FRCO (9 February 1924 – 20 November 2002) was a Welsh organist and choral conductor. Birth and early life George Guest was born in Bangor, Gwynedd. His father was an organist and Guest assisted him by acting as organ b ...

, both of whom were Organists and Directors of Music at St John's College.

Career

Cathedral positions

After serving as assistant organist at

Wells Cathedral Wells Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Wells, Somerset, England, dedicated to St Andrew the Apostle. It is the seat of the Bishop of Bath and Wells, whose cathedra it holds as mother church of the Diocese of Bath and Wells. Built as a ...

for four years, Nethsingha was appointed Master of the Choristers and Organist at

in 1994, becoming the youngest cathedral organist in the country. During his eight years there, the reputation of the choir increased considerably. In 2002 he succeeded David Briggs (whom he had also followed at

Truro Truro (; kw, Truru) is a cathedral city and civil parish in Cornwall, England. It is Cornwall's county town, sole city and centre for administration, leisure and retail trading. Its population was 18,766 in the 2011 census. People of Truro c ...

) at

and held the artistic directorship of the

Three Choirs Festival 200px, Worcester cathedral 200px, Gloucester cathedral The Three Choirs Festival is a music festival held annually at the end of July, rotating among the cathedrals of the Three Counties (Hereford, Gloucester and Worcester) and originally fea ...

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east of t ...

and the conductorship of Gloucester Choral Society. As Director of Music at

from 2007 to 2022, he helped to set up the recording label "St John's Cambridge" in conjunction with

Signum Records Signum Records, also known as Signum Classics, is a classical musical record label in the UK founded in 1997. The label began with a project to make the first recording of the complete works of Thomas Tallis. The artists for the Tallis recordin ...

. The first release on this label, ''DEO'' (with music by Jonathan Harvey), won an award from

BBC Music Magazine ''BBC Music Magazine'' is a British monthly magazine that focuses primarily on classical music. History The first issue appeared in September 1992. BBC Worldwide, the commercial subsidiary of the BBC was the original owner and publisher toge ...

in 2017. Six recent albums have been editor’s choices in

Gramophone Magazine ''Gramophone'' is a magazine published monthly in London, devoted to classical music, particularly to reviews of recordings. It was founded in 1923 by the Scottish author Compton Mackenzie who continued to edit the magazine until 1961. It was ...

. At St Johns, Nethsingha initiated the annual Advent Commission series in 2008 with the support of an anonymous Johnian benefactor, with some of the most recent works composed by

Helen Grime Helen Grime (born 1981) is a Scottish composer whose work, ''Virga'', was selected as one of the best ten new classical works of the 2000s by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Though she was born in York, England, Grime's parents returned ...

, Cheryl Frances-Hoad and

Judith Bingham Judith Bingham (born 21 June 1952) is an English composer and mezzo-soprano singer. Life Bingham was born on 21 June 1952, in Nottingham. Her parents are Jack Bingham and Peggy Bingham (née McGowan). She was educated at High Storrs Grammar ...

. In October 2021 Nethsingha led the move to admit female singers to the Choir, to start in 2022. In July 2022 it was announced that Nethsingha would succeed James O'Donnell as Organist and Master of the Choristers of

. He took up his new role at Westminster in January 2023, and in May of that year directed the choirs at the

coronation of Charles III and Camilla The coronation of Charles III and his wife, Camilla, as King and Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms will take place on Saturday, 6 May 2023, at Westminster Abbey. King Charles III acceded to the throne on 8 Septembe ...

in 2023.

Other work

As an orchestral conductor, Nethsingha has led the

Philharmonia Orchestra The Philharmonia Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It was founded in 1945 by Walter Legge, a classical music record producer for EMI. Among the conductors who worked with the orchestra in its early years were Richard Strauss, ...

in works that include Mahler’s ''8th Symphony'', Beethoven’s ''9th Symphony'', Britten’s ''War Requiem'', Brahms’ ''Requiem'', Elgar’s ''The Dream of Gerontius'' and '' The Kingdom'', Walton’s ''Belshazzar’s Feast'', Poulenc’s ''Gloria'' and Duruflé’s ''Requiem''. He has also worked with the

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London, that performs and produces primarily classic works. The RPO was established by Thomas Beecham in 1946. In its early days, the orchestra secured profitable ...

, the

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) is a British orchestra based in Birmingham, England. It is the resident orchestra at Symphony Hall: a B:Music Venue in Birmingham, which has been its principal performance venue since 1991. Its a ...

, the

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 ...

, the

Britten Sinfonia Britten Sinfonia is a chamber orchestra ensemble based in Cambridge, UK. It was created in 1992, following an initiative from Eastern Arts and a number of key figures including Nicholas Cleobury, who recognised the need for an orchestra in th ...

, the Orchestra of St. Luke's in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, the

Aarhus Symphony Orchestra The Aarhus Symfoniorkester (Aarhus Symphony Orchestra) is the principal orchestra for the Danish city of Aarhus. Description Established in 1935 as ''Aarhus By-Orkester'' (Aarhus City Orchestra), since 1982 it has performed most of its concerts in ...

and the

BBC Concert Orchestra The BBC Concert Orchestra is a British concert orchestra based in London, one of the British Broadcasting Corporation's five radio orchestras. With around fifty players, it is the only one of the five BBC orchestras which is not a full-scale symp ...

. Venues have included the

BBC Proms The BBC Proms or Proms, formally named the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts Presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Ha ...

, the

Concertgebouw The Royal Concertgebouw ( nl, Koninklijk Concertgebouw, ) is a concert hall in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Dutch term "concertgebouw" translates into English as "concert building". Its superb acoustics place it among the finest concert halls ...

in Amsterdam, the

Verbier Festival The Verbier Festival is an annual international music festival that takes place for two weeks in late July and early August in the mountain resort of Verbier, Switzerland. Founded by Swedish expatriate in 1994, it has attracted international s ...

Suntory Hall The is a concert venue in the central Akasaka district of Tokyo, Japan. Part of the Ark Hills complex, it consists of a main concert hall, widely considered one of the finest in the world for its acoustics — indeed Herbert von Karajan called i ...

in Tokyo, the

Konzerthaus Berlin The Konzerthaus Berlin is a concert hall in Berlin, the home of the Konzerthausorchester Berlin. Situated on the Gendarmenmarkt square in the central Mitte district of the city, it was originally built as a theater. It initially operated fro ...

and the Singapore Esplanade.

Personal life

Lucian Nethsingha Lucian Nethsingha (3 May 1936 − 12 February 2021) was a British musician born in Ceylon, who served as organist of Exeter Cathedral from 1973 to 1999.S. Thomas' College Mount Lavinia Sri Lanka, where he was a member of the Chapel Choir. He later took the position of the Choirmaster of the same choir. Shortly thereafter he left to England to pursue a better life, where his son, Andrew, was born. Andrew is married to

Lucy Nethsingha Lucy Kathleen Nethsingha (born 6 February 1973) is a British Liberal Democrat politician, a member of Cambridgeshire County Council since 2009. She was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the East of England from 2019 until the Unit ...

, a Liberal Democrat politician who is currently Leader of

Cambridgeshire County Council Cambridgeshire County Council is the county council of Cambridgeshire, England. The council consists of 61 councillors, representing 59 electoral divisions. The council is based at New Shire Hall at Alconbury Weald, near Huntingdon. It is a me ...

after previously serving as a

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Commu ...

(MEP) from

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

to 2020, They married in 1996 and have three children.

Recordings

* ''The Tree:'' a live album celebrating the heritage of the choir. The album plays with the idea of growth, inspired by the tree in the

Book of Job The Book of Job (; hbo, אִיּוֹב, ʾIyyōḇ), or simply Job, is a book found in the Ketuvim ("Writings") section of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh), and is the first of the Poetic Books in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. Scholars ar ...

.
St John’s Cambridge
' label with

, November 2021 * ''Magnificat 2:'' a second album of settings of the Evening Canticles.
St John’s Cambridge
' label with

, April 2021.

Gramophone A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

Editor’s Choice, June 2021 * ''Advent Live - Volume 2:'' a second collection of live performances from Advent Carol Services at St John's College.
St John’s Cambridge
' label with

, November 2020 * ''Pious Anthems and Voluntaries:'' a recording of the nine-part cycle by

Michael Finnissy Michael Peter Finnissy (born 17 March 1946) is an English composer, pianist, and pedagogue. An immensely prolific composer, his music is "notable for its dramatic urgency and expressive immediacy". Although he rejects the label, he is often r ...

written whilst Composer in Residence at St John’s College.
St John's Cambridge
' label with

, 2020.

Editor’s Choice, September 2020 &

Awards Finalist (Contemporary), 2021.

Choral and Song Choice, October 2020. The music was choral nominee at the 2020 Ivors Composer Awards * ''Magnificat:'' an album dedicated to settings of the Evening Canticles.
St John’s Cambridge
' label with

, 2019.

Editor’s Choice, Awards Issue 2019 * ''Locus Iste'', a collection that takes music from each decade of the 150 year history of the College Chapel.
St John’s Cambridge
' label with

, 2019.

Editor’s Choice, July 2019 * ''Advent Live - Volume 1:'' a selection of live performances from Advent Carol Services at St John's College.
St John’s Cambridge
' label with

, October 2018 *''Mass in G minor'': the music of

Ralph Vaughan Williams Ralph Vaughan Williams, (; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...

. Joseph Wicks (organ), David Blackadder (trumpet).
St John's Cambridge
' label with

, 2018. BBC Music Magazine Choral and Song Choice, July 2018 * ''Kyrie'': works by

Francis Poulenc Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc (; 7 January 189930 January 1963) was a French composer and pianist. His compositions include songs, solo piano works, chamber music, choral pieces, operas, ballets, and orchestral concert music. Among the best-kn ...

Zoltán Kodály Zoltán Kodály (; hu, Kodály Zoltán, ; 16 December 1882 – 6 March 1967) was a Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist, pedagogue, linguist, and philosopher. He is well known internationally as the creator of the Kodály method of music ed ...

and

Leoš Janáček Leoš Janáček (, baptised Leo Eugen Janáček; 3 July 1854 – 12 August 1928) was a Czech composer, musical theorist, folklorist, publicist, and teacher. He was inspired by Moravian and other Slavic musics, including Eastern European ...

. Joseph Wicks and Glen Dempsey (organ),

Anne Denholm Anne Denholm is a Welsh harpist born in Carmarthenshire, who held the position of Official Harpist to the Prince of Wales from 2015 to 2019. Education Denholm was educated at Ysgol Gynradd y Dderwen and Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Bro Myrddin. She th ...

(harp).
St John's Cambridge
' label with

, September 2017 * ''Christmas with St John's''. Joseph Wicks (organ).
St John's Cambridge
' label with

, October 2016 * ''Deo'': music by Jonathan Harvey. Edward Picton-Turbervill (organ).
St John's Cambridge
' label with

, May 2016.

Award Winner (Choral) 2017

References

External links

Director of MusicDirector of Music , StJohns
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nethsingha, Andrew Living people 1968 births English classical organists British male organists English conductors (music) British male conductors (music) British people of Sri Lankan descent Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Fellows of St John's College, Cambridge Fellows of the Royal College of Organists 21st-century British conductors (music) 21st-century organists 21st-century British male musicians People educated at Exeter Cathedral School Male classical organists