12 May 2025, 1.10pm
Leeds Cathedral International Organ Festival
30 May 2025, 7.00pm
Kington Church, Herefordshire
7 June 2025, 7.00pm
Kirkby Malham Church, North Yorkshire
14 June 2025, 7.30pm
Clapham Church, North Yorkshire
20 June 2025, 7.00pm
Giggleswick Church, North Yorkshire
28 June 2025, 7.00pm
Stainforth Church, North Yorkshire
Benjamin Saunders carries overall responsibility for music in the Diocese of Leeds and also leads the National Schools Singing Programme. He was educated at the University of Cambridge and subsequently held organist posts at the cathedrals of Chester, Blackburn and St Giles Edinburgh. He was appointed a Director of Leeds Conservatoire in 2013 and Visiting Professor of Music at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana in 2015.
As an organist, he has performed to the late HM the Queen, Princess Anne and US President Carter and worked with conductor Carl Davis and jazz virtuoso Dick Hyman. He has given solo organ concerts in France, Italy, Holland, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Russia and the United States. Particular highlights have been Cologne Cathedral’s “Orgelfeierstunden” to an audience of 3,000; the “Andriessen/De Klerk Festival” at St Bavo’s Cathedral, Haarlem; the largest organ in Russia at Kaliningrad Concert Hall; Leeds Castle as soloist for the Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic; and of course the exquisite organs in the churches of North Yorkshire.
Ben has also been a drummer in two rock bands, keyboardist in the Edinburgh International Jazz Festival and most recently plays the Classical Accordion – developing a project to introduce this new instrument along with piano, organ and melodica to children in West Yorkshire.
His recordings of organ and choral music for Brilliant Classics/Naxos and Herald AV include Maurice Duruflé, Arvo Pärt, Georgi Mushel, Hendrik Andriessen and the Jazz virtuoso Dick Hyman – available on Amazon, Spotify, Youtube and Apple Music.
You can read a profile of Benjamin by Joe Riley.
(Copyright © Organists Review. All rights reserved. Used by permission.)
Example Programmes
Abbey of the Genesee, New York USA (Opening of new organ)
Thinking about Bix Hyman
Salut d’Amour Elgar
Indiana Variations Hyman
Elevation on a modal theme Benoit
Variations on Shenandoah Hyman
Cologne Cathedral
Marche Triomphale Guilmant
Playful Pizzicato (Simple Symphony) Britten arr. Saunders
Cathédrales Vierne
Satyagraha Glass
Largo (New World Symphony) Dvorák arr. Saunders
Passacaglia and Fugue Kushnariov
Stiftskirche, Stuttgart
Lotus Blossom Strayhorn
Samarkand Suite Mushel
Felix namque Tallis
Sonata da Chiesa Andriessen
Humoresque – L’organo primitivo Yon
Rondo in G Bull arr. Saunders
Leeds Town Hall
Batalla del sexto tono Ximénez
Chant de paix and Canzona Langlais
The Squirrel – Scherzino Weaver
Rhapsody in Blue Gershwin
Pleasant moments: Ragtime waltz Scott Joplin
Coronation March Meyerbeer
Previous Concerts
2020-24
St Bartholomew’s Church, Armley
Kirkby Malham Church, North Yorkshire
Clapham Church, North Yorkshire
Leeds Cathedral International Organ Festival
Giggleswick Church, North Yorkshire
Martinskirche, Markoldendorf, Germany
St. Martin, Greene, Germany
Rochdale Parish Church
St Anthony’s Church, Beeston, Leeds
Leeds Town Hall
2018-19
Leeds Cathedral International Organ Festival
Blevio, Lake Como, Italy
St Michael’s, Cornhill, London
Göttingen St Jakobi, Germany
Hardegsen St Mauritius, Germany
Bad Gandersheim, Dom, Germany
Leeds Cathedral (Leeds International Organ Festival)
RCO Guest Lecture, Peterborough Cathedral
2017
Bradford Cathedral
Downing College, Cambridge
Leeds Cathedral
Boston Parish Church
Pauluskirche, Darmstadt, Germany
Ely Cathedral
Kathedrale Basiliek St Bavo, Haarlem, Netherlands
2015-16
Leeds Town Hall
St Paul’s Hall, University of Huddersfield
Perugia Cathedral, Italy
Church of Our Lady of Loretto, Indiana USA
Abbey of the Genesee, New York USA
St Joseph’s Church, Bradford
Concerts in the UK are listed at organrecitals.uk