Sub- Organist
Francesca Massey took up the post of Sub-Organist of Durham Cathedral in September 2011. Prior to this, she was for four years Assistant Director of Music at Peterborough Cathedral, where in addition to the daily provision of music for services, she regularly accompanied the cathedral choir in concerts, tours, broadcasts and recordings, including the live televised-broadcasts of Midnight Mass and Christmas Day Eucharist in 2008. Concert venues with the choir included the cathedrals of Amiens, Bourges, Blois and Orléans. Born in Birmingham, Francesca was educated at Cambridge University and the Royal Northern College of Music (as an ABRSM Scholar) and has held Organ Scholarships at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, Gonville
and Caius College, Cambridge (also Acting Precentor for a term) and Manchester Cathedral as well as being Assistant Organist at Great St. Mary's Church, Cambridge.
At the age of 19, Francesca gained all of the top prizes in the FRCO diploma and has since been awarded the WT Best Memorial Scholarship and Silver Medal of the Worshipful Company of Musicians, and the Musicians Benevolent Fund’s Ian Fleming Award. She has studied with Jeremy Filsell, Kevin Bowyer, David Goode and Andrew Fletcher.
Francesca’s recital venues have included many major concert halls, cathedrals and churches in the UK, and she has also performed throughout South Africa, Sardinia, Sweden and Denmark with Caius College Choir, with whom she recorded a number of acclaimed CDs. Francesca has worked as a tutor for Cambridge University Faculty of Music, and on various courses hosted by Oundle for Organists and the RSCM, as well as performing extensively as an organ accompanist, continuo player, pianist, violinist and singer. She is currently the rehearsal accompanist for The Durham Singers.
At the age of 19, Francesca gained all of the top prizes in the FRCO diploma and has since been awarded the WT Best Memorial Scholarship and Silver Medal of the Worshipful Company of Musicians, and the Musicians Benevolent Fund’s Ian Fleming Award. She has studied with Jeremy Filsell, Kevin Bowyer, David Goode and Andrew Fletcher.
Francesca’s recital venues have included many major concert halls, cathedrals and churches in the UK, and she has also performed throughout South Africa, Sardinia, Sweden and Denmark with Caius College Choir, with whom she recorded a number of acclaimed CDs. Francesca has worked as a tutor for Cambridge University Faculty of Music, and on various courses hosted by Oundle for Organists and the RSCM, as well as performing extensively as an organ accompanist, continuo player, pianist, violinist and singer. She is currently the rehearsal accompanist for The Durham Singers.
Francesca Massey