Press Release May 24th, 2008
'Ready to pull
out all the stops...
WE HAVE A NEW DIRECTOR OF MUSIC
Fr Neil Kelley is delighted to
announce the appointment of Sam Austin as Director of Music of the
United Benefice of Saint Faith Great Crosby and Saint Mary the Virgin
Waterloo Park. He will start his duties in September 2008.
Sam is currently the Organ Scholar at
Liverpool Anglican Cathedral and is in the first year of studying for a
Master's Degree (organ) over two years at the Royal Northern College of
Music. He has secured the Organ Scholarship at the Liverpool
Metropolitan Cathedral for 2008/09.
Previously, he has been the Percy
Whitlock Organ Scholar at Birmingham Symphony Hall and Assistant
Organist at The Oratory, Birmingham. He was the Organist and
Director of Music at St Mary’s Priory Church, Warrington, and Musical
Director of the Liverpool Festival Choir. He has given
performances in many parts of the country and is also a keen
bell-ringer.
Of his new appointment, Sam Austin said: “I am delighted to accept the
appointment and look forward to some fantastic music making, with
musicians of the United Benefice and beyond”
Father Neil said,
“We are
very lucky to have appointed someone as gifted as Sam and we look
forward very much to working with him. In welcoming Sam, I want
to pay a particular tribute to Stephen Hargreaves who has been Acting
Director of Music for over twelve months and has done a brilliant
job. We are very fortunate in having such a strong Music
Department at Saint Faith’s and Saint Mary’s and we hope to develop
further in the future.”
Although
he will not be joining us until September, on the day his appointment
was announced to the congregation,
(May 25th, 2008) Sam Austin deputised for Stephen Hargreaves at the
morning services at St Mary's and St Faith's.
Below he is
seen with Fr Neil at the back of St Faith's after the 11.00 am
Sung Eucharist, with appropriate wording behind him.
Later, the
website manager snapped him posing again, this time at the organ console.
