David Graham
David Graham has been involved with the music at Farm Street for over thirty years. In 1982 he became Assistant to Nicholas Danby (Director of Music 1967 – 1997) and after Danby’s death in 1997 was appointed Joint Director Music with Martyn Parry. From 2004, following Martyn Parry’s death, he has been Organist and Director of Music.
David Graham is recognised internationally as one of the UK’s leading organ teachers. As Professor in-charge-of Organ at the Royal College of Music he has taught some of the most talented young organists, many of whom have gone on to win prizes in international competitions and hold important positions in cathedrals and churches in this country and abroad.
As a performer he has played widely throughout Europe, the USA and the Far East. His repertoire is wide but Graham has commissioned organ works by the contemporary British composer, Huw Watkins, and given premieres of his music in Notre Dame and St Sulpice in Paris.
Graham has recorded extensively as a solo artist in music by Guy Weitz, his predecessor as organist at Farm Street and music by Dupré, Franck and d’Indy, among others. He also features as an accompanist in a wide range of choral music and as a conductor in works by Nino Rota and other 19th and 20th century composers.
David Graham was educated at Methodist College Belfast, where he studied organ with Desmond Hunter. In 1976 he won a scholarship to continue organ studies at the Royal College of Music in London with Nicholas Danby. Postgraduate studies included a year at the Sweelinck Conservatorium in Amsterdam, studying early performance practices with Klass Bolt, and further studies in organ improvisation with Naji Hakim in Paris and Peter Planyavsky in Vienna.
