Daniel Moult (born 1973) is a concert organist, educator and
animateur, ensemble player and presenter of films about music.
Education
Daniel Moult was born in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
. He attended
Manchester Grammar School
The Manchester Grammar School (MGS) is a highly Selective school, selective Private_schools_in_the_United_Kingdom, private day school for boys aged 7-18 in Manchester, England, which was founded in 1515 by Hugh Oldham (then Bishop of Exeter). ...
and
St John's College, Oxford
St John's College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded as a men's college in 1555, it has been coeducational since 1979.Communication from Michael Riordan, college archivist Its foun ...
, where he was
organ scholar. While at Oxford he became a Fellow 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 ...
winning three of the top prizes, and was jointly awarded the University of Oxford's John Betts Organ Scholarship. He studied as a post-graduate at the
Conservatorium van Amsterdam, where his teacher was Jacques van Oortmerssen.
Career
Daniel Moult is Head of Organ at the
Birmingham Conservatoire
Royal Birmingham Conservatoire is a music school, drama school and concert venue in Birmingham, England. It provides education in music, acting, and related disciplines up to postgraduate level. It is a centre for scholarly research and doct ...
, where he leads one of the most vibrant organ departments in the UK, with regular trips to Europe and visits from the best international organists, and new facilities including a purpose built organ studio and £3 million worth of new instruments. He is a trustee of the Royal College of Organists, for which he also examines, and he teaches in London through the RCO Academy.
He was organist and assistant director of music at
Coventry Cathedral
The Cathedral Church of Saint Michael, commonly known as Coventry Cathedral, is the seat of the Bishop of Coventry and the Diocese of Coventry within the Church of England. The cathedral is located in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midla ...
from 1995 to 2002. He has performed concerts throughout the UK, as well as in Europe, Australia and Asia, and has been a soloist with orchestras such as
Kammerorchester Basel
The chamber orchestra Kammerorchester Basel was founded in Basel, Switzerland, in 1984. In the tradition of Paul Sacher's ''Basler Kammerorchester'', its focus is on both early music and contemporary classical music. The orchestra plays regularly ...
, the Czech National Symphony Orchestra,
Capella Cracoviensis and the English String Orchestra. He works frequently as an accompanist for choirs such as the choir of
St Peter's Church, Eaton Square. In 2010 he toured Switzerland and France with the Kammerorchester Basel as the soloist in Handel's F Major Organ Concerto, Opus 4, and he recorded the B-flat Major Organ Concerto, Opus 4, with the London Early Opera Orchestra for the CD "Handel at Vauxhall", released on Signum Classics. He has been artist in residence at Sydney Grammar School and performs in Australia most years.
Past positions include teaching at the
Royal College of Music
The Royal College of Music (RCM) is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including pe ...
Junior Department. He has published several editions, including the Easy Bach Album and Easy Handel Album with Bärenreiter and the Complete Church Organist, volumes 1 and 2, with RSCM Publications. His articles on performance practice and performance-related topics have appeared in various music journals.
Broadcast and film work
Daniel Moult has performed for many broadcasts on
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the List of most-listened-to radio programs, most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 14 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the sta ...
,
Radio 3,
Radio 4 and
BBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1 January 1927. It p ...
, including numerous broadcasts of ''
Songs of Praise
''Songs of Praise'' is a BBC Television religious programme that presents Christian hymns, worship songs and inspirational performances in churches of varying denominations from around the UK alongside interviews and stories reflecting how Ch ...
'' and ''Choral Evensong''.
Daniel Moult co-wrote and presented the documentary ''
The Elusive English Organ'',
a film that traced the development of the English organ from 1550 to 1830, discovering why so few pre-1830 English organs survive and to what extent it is possible to perform repertoire written during this period on instruments from the composers’ times. Locations included
Lanvellec,
Ploujean,
Adlington Hall,
St Botolph's Aldgate and St James, Bermondsey. This film was produced by Fugue State Films and released in 2010 on DVD with an accompanying CD with recordings by Daniel Moult of music by
William Byrd
William Byrd (; 4 July 1623) was an English Renaissance composer. Considered among the greatest composers of the Renaissance, he had a profound influence on composers both from his native country and on the Continental Europe, Continent. He i ...
,
Thomas Tomkins
Thomas Tomkins (1572 – 9 June 1656) was a Welsh-born composer of the late Tudor and early Stuart period. In addition to being one of the prominent members of the English Madrigal School, he was a skilled composer of keyboard and consort mu ...
,
John Blow,
Henry Purcell
Henry Purcell (, rare: ; September 1659 – 21 November 1695) was an English composer of Baroque music, most remembered for his more than 100 songs; a tragic opera, Dido and Aeneas, ''Dido and Aeneas''; and his incidental music to a version o ...
,
George Frideric Handel
George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel ( ; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well-known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concerti.
Born in Halle, Germany, H ...
,
John Stanley and
Samuel Wesley. At the time of its release it was reviewed in The Organists' Review as follows: “This is eloquently articulated, well-paced playing, which reaches far. Moult’s performance of Purcell’s Double Organ Voluntary in D minor is lovely in its maturity and flexibility.”
His second film was ''Virtuoso! Music for Organ''. He performed a programme of virtuosic works by
Marcel Dupre,
Franz Schmidt,
Jehan Alain,
Jean Langlais,
Maurice Durufle as well as works by contemporary composers
Ad Wammes,
Graeme Koehne and Andries van Rossem. This was recorded on the organ of
Bridlington Priory
Priory Church of St Mary, Bridlington, , commonly known as Bridlington Priory Church is a parish church in Bridlington, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, in the Diocese of York. It is on the site of an Augustinians, Augustinian priory founded i ...
and released in 2010. Choir and Organ Magazine reviewed it, writing: “To the lay observer, he risks making it all look deceptively easy; but this is a DVD that serious students of the organ will want to revisit for an object lesson in the unfussy performance of some fiendishly difficult repertoire.” ''
Gramophone'' magazine reviewed it as "a thrilling production...allowing one to marvel even more at Moult's exhilarating musicianship".
He is currently developing "The Imperial English Organ",
a follow-up to ''
The Elusive English Organ'',
which follows the story of the English organ and its repertoire from Handel to the present day, and tells the history of England from the point of view of the pipe organ from the Eighteenth to Twenty-First centuries.
Discography
Partial discography:
*
The Elusive English Organ (Fugue State Films)
* Virtuoso! Music for Organ (Fugue State Films)
* Handel: Athalia (Sony BMG) organ concerto soloist with Basel Kammer Orchester and Paul Goodwin.
*Out of the Stillness (RSCM) Millennium Youth Choir conducted by David Ogden with Daniel Moult, organ.
*Arundel Restored (Regent) Daniel Moult, organ, plays the newly restored Hill organ of Arundel Cathedral.
*Handel at Vauxhall (Signum) organ concerto soloist with London Early Opera Orchestra and Bridget Cunningham.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moult, Daniel
1973 births
Living people
Musicians from Manchester
English classical organists
People educated at Manchester Grammar School
Alumni of St John's College, Oxford
21st-century organists
21st-century British male musicians
British male classical organists
Academics of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire
Conservatorium van Amsterdam alumni