Joseph Beech, Organ Recital

Joseph Beech is the Sub-Organist of Durham Cathedral, a position he has held since 2019. He is the principal accompanist and assistant director of the cathedral choir, and shares in all aspects of the recruitment and training of the choristers. Joseph is a prizewinning graduate of the Royal Academy of Music, London, where he was a scholarship student of David Titterington. As a student, Joseph performed in most of London’s major venues, won the Academy’s inaugural Dorothy Cooper organ competition (2016), and gained the Licentiateship teaching diploma. Upon graduating with a first-class degree, Joseph was presented with a Regency Award for ‘notable achievement’. In 2022, he was elected to Associateship of the Royal Academy of Music in recognition of his ‘significant contribution’ to the music profession.

Joseph successively held organ scholarships at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle; HM Chapel Royal, Hampton Court Palace; the London Oratory; and St Paul’s Cathedral. Prior to his appointment at Durham, Joseph was Assistant Master of the Music at St Mary’s Cathedral,
Edinburgh. He has broadcast regularly as an organist and conductor on BBC Radio 3 and 4.

Aside from his work at the Cathedral, Joseph maintains a busy performance schedule, with recent and forthcoming concerts across the UK, and in the Republic of Ireland and Germany, and enjoys dedicating time to organ teaching at Durham University. In his spare time, he is
undertaking postgraduate studies in history at the University of Aberdeen.

PROGRAMME

Dietrich Buxtehude  Præludium in E, BuxWV 141

Johann Sebastian Bach Trio Sonata No 4 in E minor, BWV 528

César Franck Prière, Op. 20

Maurice Duruflé Fugue sur le thème du Carillon des Heures de la Cathédral de Soissons, Op. 12

INTERVAL

James MacMillan St Andrews’ Suite

Charles Villiers Stanford Sonata No 4 ‘Celtica’, Op. 153

i.                     Allegro molto moderato

ii.                    Tema con variazioni

iii.                  St Patrick’s Breastplate