Paul Stubbings
"Masterful organ playing of one of the best organists that Britain has to offer!"
'Music and Beyond', Ottawa
photography by Tina Norris
Brought up on the North Yorkshire coast Paul Stubbings was educated at Chetham’s and Manchester University, studying organ with Francis Jackson at York Minster and Gordon Stewart at Manchester Cathedral. Major awards from the Dutch Government and the Countess of Munster Trust enabled him to pursue postgraduate studies with Bach Scholar Jacques van Oortmerssen at the Amsterdam Conservatorium, where he subsequently gained a First Class Master’s.
Paul’s career was launched at St Martin-in-the-Fields where he presided over one of the most vibrant choral and concert programmes in the country. Until recently Paul was Director of Music at the northernmost of the UK’s five Specialist Music Schools, the prestigious St Mary’s Music School in Edinburgh, which is also the Cathedral Choir School.
As a recitalist he has played in major venues and at festivals throughout Europe, and in Australia. More recently he gave two tours in Russia, two in the US and three in Canada; another trip to Australia is planned for next summer.
With a Ph.D. in Historical Musicology, he now leads a busy freelance career as a performer, teacher and writer. He is a Sessional Academic at Canterbury Christ Church University and Researcher for Oxford University’s Museum of Music History.
Solo recitals given at major UK venues and throughout Europe, also Canada (three tours), Russia (two tours), US (two tours) and Australia.
Guest recitalist:
Brussels Organ Festival
Royal College of Organists
Monastic Musicians
Royal School of Church Music
Edinburgh Festival
IAO Organ Festivals
Bodensee Festival
University of St Andrews New Music Week
St Andrews University Organ Week
Ottawa's 'Music & Beyond'
International Organ Festival St Petersburg
Kulturfestival Stummer Schrei
Guest performances BBC Radio 2, 3, 4; ABC.
Repertoire includes:
- The complete Organ Works of J S Bach
- The complete Organ Works of César Franck
- The Organ Works of Nicolaus Bruhns
- Complete Organ Music from the
English Restoration - Couperin Messes
- Clérambault Suites
- Sonatas by Reubke, Bairstow,
Elgar, Mendelssohn, CPE Bach,
York Bowen and William Harris
- Karg-Elert Triptych; Partita in E
- Liszt Ad nos; BACH
- Jackson Toccata, Chorale & Fugue
- Whitlock Plymouth Suite
- Willan Introduction, Passacaglia & Fugue
- Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition
- Tchaikovsky Nutcracker
- MacDowell Sea Pieces (tr. PS)
- Saint-Saëns Carnival of the Animals
- The Hovingham Sketches
- Messiaen L’Ascension,
Messiaen Les Corps glorieux,
Messiaen La Nativité - Dupré Symphonie-Passion
- Duruflé Veni Creator;
Duruflé Requiem - Jongen Sonata Eroica
- Poulenc Organ Concerto
- Alain Suite
- Grunenwald Hymne aux mémoires héroïques
- 'An A to Z of Organ Composers'
An A to Z of Organ Composers (part two)
Spring - Autumn 2024
1883 Gern/1916 Hill organ
Thursday, 10th October, 1.05pm
1910/1973 Harrison Organ
Wednesday, 9th July 2025, 11am
date tbc
The Hospital of St Cross and Almshouse of Noble Poverty
1863/1936 Walker Organ
'Perfect Pitch' Concert
September 2025
Second Australia Tour (in planning)
recent past concerts:
13th July 2024
St Clement's, Sandwich
1995 Nicholson organ
'Bach Day' Recital
Winter Buxtehude Series 2024
1883 Gern/1916 Hill organ
18th August 2023
Rubislaw Parish Church, Aberdeen
1890 Father Willis organ
Music from York and Paris
12th July 2023
St Mary's, Walmer
St John's, Mongeham
Deal Festival: repertoire played (click for link)
13th July 2023
St Mary's Dover
St Andrew's, Dover
Deal Festival: repertoire played (click for link)
An A to Z of Organ Composers (part one)
Spring - Summer 2023
1883 Gern/1916 Hill organ
Winter Bach Series 2022/23
1883 Gern/1916 Hill organ
23rd and 24th December 2022
Canterbury Cathedral
Christmas Programme
27th November 2022
Canterbury Cathedral
Advent Programme
26th October 2022
Canterbury Cathedral
Music by Christopher Gibbons, Blow and Purcell
St Andrews University Organ Week, 1-5 August 2022
Staff Tutor
24th July 2022
Canongate Kirk, Edinburgh
1998 Frobenius organ
part of the IAO Festival
'Give me Scotland, or I die!'
Music by Tallis, O and C Gibbons, Tomkins,
Blow and Purcell
13th February 2022
Westminster Cathedral Grand Organ Recital Series
1924 Henry Willis organ
'This day the Organs did play at White-hall before the King'
Music by Christopher Gibbons, Blow and Purcell
4th November 2021
1989 Collins and c.1845 Hamilton organs
Autumn 2019: St Petersburg Tour
22nd October 2019
part of the St.Petersburg International Organ Festival
24th October 2019
White Hall, Peter the Great Polytechnic University
Summer 2019: US West Coast Tour
26th July 2019
1907 Hutchings-Votey & 2000 Rosales organs
27th July 2019
Christ Church Cathedral, Victoria, British Columbia
2005 Hellmuth Wolff organ
The complete Organ Music of Nicolaus Bruhns
31st July 2019
Memorial Church, Stanford University
1901 Murray Harris & 1985 Charles Fisk organs
4th August 2019
Grace Cathedral, San Francisco
1934 Aeolian-Skinner organ
13th July 2019
The National Shrine of St Augustine, Ramsgate
2018 Henry Willis organ - opening series
PASSIONTIDE 2019
Marcel Dupre: 'Symphonie-Passion' Op.23 (1925)
Passion Sunday
St Marylebone Church, London
1987 Rieger organ
Wednesday in Passion Week 2019
Temple Church, London
1923 Harrison & Harrison organ
Easter Day
St Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh
1992 Rieger organ
24th January 2019
Music by Nicolaus Bruhns (1665-97)
5th September 2018
'Town Hall' recital, including music by Hamish MacCunn
22nd July 2018
Pfarrkirche St. Rupert, Stumm, Tyrol
Bach Recital
31st May 2018
Bach's Kirnberger Chorales
3rd February 2018
St John's Kirk, Perth
15th October 2017
Holy Trinity, Broadstairs (Centenary of the Hill Organ)
'Royal Favourites'
10th September 2017
Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Moscow
26th August 2017
Dunblane Cathedral
'A Portrait of J S Bach'
July-August 2017
US West Coast Tour
25th July: St Paul's Cathedral, San Diego
26th July: Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels,
Los Angeles
30th July: Cathedral of St Mary of the Assumption,
San Francisco
2nd August: Memorial Chapel, Stanford University
12th July 2017
Deal Festival
Scherzos, Songs without words
& the allure of Felix Mendelssohn
22nd June 2017
Greyfriars Kirk, Edinburgh
Bach Recital
24th May 2017
Temple Church, London
Liszt: Ad nos, ad salutarem undam
6th May 2017
Scottish Federation of Organists' Conference
Melrose Parish Church
24th September 2016
St Stephen's Centre, Edinburgh
Franck: Three Pieces (Fantaisie in C, Priere, Pastorale)
Pierne: Three Pieces (Prelude, Cantilene, Scherzando)
1st August 2016
St Andrews University Organ Week: St Salvator's Chapel
Petr Eben: Sunday Music
Three pieces, Camphuysen Manuscript
Liszt: Ad nos, ad salutarem undam
18th March 2016
Edinburgh University
Bach en style français
7th November 2015
St Cuthbert's, Lothian Road, Edinburgh
Karg-Elert: Partita in E
26th October 2015
Organ Recital for the conference of Monastic Musicians
Sarum St Martin, Salisbury
'In Praise of Plainsong' (including Durufle's Veni Creator)
9th June 2015
Barony Hall, University of Strathcyde, Glasgow
Music by Bach and Buxtehude
15th July 2015
St Nicolaasbasiliek, Amsterdam
29th August 2015
Farnborough Abbey
J S Bach: Allein Gott in der Höh' sei Ehr
(3 settings from the Great Eighteen)
from St Martin-in-the-Fields, London
20'33"
Daphne
anon. c.1670
played on the Walker Organ of St Martin-in-the-Fields
5'21"
Triptych
Karg-Elert
in concert, Willis Organs, Westminster Cathedral
and St Michael's Croydon
22'23"
J S Bach: Dies sind die heil'gen zehn Gebot'
(2 settings from Clavier-Übung III)
in concert, Mariendom, Hamburg
7'32"
Fuga in Eb
J S Bach
played on the Rieger Organ of St Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh
7'29"
Sonata Eroïca (1930)
Joseph Jongen
in concert, Rieger Organ of St Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh
16'07"
Finale of Sunday Music (Nedelní Hubda)
Petr Eben
in concert, Ruffatti Organ, San Francisco Cathedral
12:08"
