The Wondrous Machine: David Leigh

It was the Irish poet, Nicholas Brady who coined the phrase “The Wondrous Machine” to describe the organ, and with over 4,000 pipes, 80 speaking stops spread over 4 manuals and pedals, the organ in St Patrick’s is no exception.

This autumn there will be plenty of opportunity to hear this wondrous machine for yourselves with a series of 5 recitals given by St Patrick’s Cathedral Organists and guests from across Ireland.

Admission is free, and programmes will be published in the not too distant future.

David Leigh is the Organist and Assistant Master of the Music at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, where, in addition to presiding at the Willis organ, he directs the Schola (senior girls’ choir) and the Lay Vicars Choral.  He also pursues a busy freelance career as keyboard player, concert organist and conductor.  He is musical director of chamber choir The Gaudete Singers and of the University of Dublin Choral Society.  He has conducted both national orchestras, most recently the RTE Concert Orchestra in a programme of Elgar, Leighton and Mozart as part of this summer’s Pipeworks Festival, of which he is Artistic Director. David was educated at Bolton School and Oxford, where he was organ scholar of St Peter’s College and Assisting Organist at Magdalen College.  Prior to this he held organ scholarships successively at Blackburn and Lichfield cathedrals.  He moved to Dublin in 1997. A pupil of Nicolas Kynaston and of David Sanger, David became a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists at the age of nineteen, winning two playing prizes.  He has performed widely as a recitalist, playing in all of the major venues in Ireland and many in the UK, most recently in St Paul’s Cathedral, London; future engagements include the Abbey of St Ouen, Rouen, France. He has made five critically acclaimed solo recordings.