Michael Howard (musician)

Michael Howard
Born (1922-09-14)14 September 1922
Paddington, London, England, UK
Died 4 January 2002(2002-01-04) (aged 79)
Groombridge, East Sussex, England, UK
Nationality United Kingdom
Other names Michael Stockwin Howard
Known for Choral conductor, organist and composer

Michael Stockwin Howard (14 September 1922 – 4 January 2002) was an English choral conductor, organist and composer. He was an important part of the Early Music movement in the middle of the last century, in particular as a celebrated interpreter of 16th century polyphony[1] In his later years he made notable recordings of the late French Romantic school of organ composers, particularly César Franck, on the Cavaillé Coll organ at St. Michael's Abbey in Farnborough. The National Pipe Organ Register now claims that the organ appears in a list of organs by Mutin (originally attributed to Aristide Cavaille-Coll).

Educated at Ellesmere College, Shropshire, Michael went on to study Organ (with G.D. Cunningham) and Composition (with William Alwyn) at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He also studied privately with Marcel Dupre and Ralph Downes.

In 1944 he founded The Renaissance Singers with whom he gave numerous concerts and made many recordings and broadcasts for the next twenty years. He was organist of Tewkesbury Abbey (1943-1944), Christ Church, Woburn Square in London (1945-1950), Ely Cathedral (1953-1958), St. Marylebone Parish Church in London (1971-1979) and at St. Michael's Abbey in Farnborough (1984-1986). In the 1960s he formed and conducted the sixteen-voice group Cantores in Ecclesia.

Cultural offices
Preceded by
Sidney Campbell		 Organist and Master of the Choristers of Ely Cathedral
1953-1958 		Succeeded by
Arthur Wills

References

  1. ↑ Humphreys, Maggie; Evans, Robert (1997). Dictionary of Composers for the Church in Great Britain and Ireland. London: Mansell Publishing. p. 171. ISBN 0-7201-2330-5.
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