We are thrilled to launch our International Organist Series for 2025 with a stellar line up of organists. The series has for many years brought the world’s best organists to Adelaide to present recitals on Pilgrim’s acclaimed pipe organ, the largest pipe organ in South Australia.
This year we look forward to welcoming many of our visitors to participate in our services, working with the Choir of Pilgrim Church to bring their skills and experiece to a liturgical setting.
Through the Series, Pilgrim maintains the prominence of the organ as a recital instrument, encourages young people to pursue organ studies, and provides invaluable professional development opportunities for our organists and choristers. The visiting organist program has opened doors for choir tours and organ visits around the world.
Since 2023, the International Organist Series has been proudly supported by the Stow Music Fund.
Richard Pearce
Richard Pearce (UK) is our first International Organist of the year and he’ll be playing on three occasions:
Saturday 5 April, 5pm | Evensong
Sunday 6 April, 11am | Choral Eucharist
Thursday 10 April, 1pm | Lunchtime Organ Recital
All events are free of Charge.
Richard Pearce was organ scholar at Trinity College, Cambridge, and has since worked with leading choral conductors such as David Hill, Stephen Cleobury and Bob Chilcott as organist and pianist. He performs regularly with the Philharmonia and BBC Symphony Orchestras in London, including under the baton of star conductors such as Lorin Maazel, Pierre Boulez, and Vladimir Ashkenazy. As organ soloist he has given recitals across the UK, Europe and Japan.
Martin Baker
Sunday 11 May, 11am | Choral Eucharist
Sunday 11 May, 2:30pm | Recital
Tickets $40/$30 Buy Now
Martin Baker is recognized as one of Britain’s finest choral conductors and organists, having been organist at Westminster Abbey between 1992 and 1999, and Master of Music at Westminster Cathedral 2000-2019. He was also assistant organist at London’s St Paul’s Cathedral 1990-1991. He is an acclaimed improviser, having won first prize for Improvisation at the St Albans International Organ Competition in 1997, and performs regularly throughout the UK, Europe and the USA as a soloist.
David Drury
Saturday June 21, 5pm | Recital
All tix $20 Buy Now
Sunday June 22, 11am | Choral Worship
David Drury is a regular and esteemed guest organist at Pilgrim, and accompanied the choir on its 2017-18 and 2022-23 UK tours – and will do so again in 2025-26. Drury is Organist and Composer in Residence at St Paul’sCollege, University of Sydney, and Organist in Residence atChrist Church Cathedral, Newcastle.
He has toured England, France, Germany, Canada, the USA and NewZealand as a recitalist, and plays regularly with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and orchestras across the country. He is the only Australian to have won the Tournemire Prize for Improvisation at the St Albans International Organ Competition (1987).
In a special recital David will improvise on the organ to a showing of the silent film ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’ (1923).
James O'Donnell
Saturday 19 July, 5pm | Choral Evensong
Sunday 20 July, 11am | Choral Worship
Sunday 20 July, 2:30pm | Recital
Tickets $40/$30 Buy Now
James O’Donnell was Organist and Master of the Choristers at Westminster Abbey from 2000 to 2022, leading the choir on many state occasions, including the wedding of Prince William to Catherine Middleton. A prize-winning organist, he has given solo recitals globally, including at the BBC Proms, and performed with leading orchestras.
O’Donnell currently holds the post of Professor in the Practice of Organ and Sacred Music at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music in the United States.
James will be working with the Choir of Pilgrim Church in the lead up to two services, Choral Evensong and Choral Worship. He will then give a recital on Sunday afternoon.
Jean-Baptiste Robin
Sunday 14 September, 2:30pm | Recital
Tickets $40/$30 Buy Now
Jean-Baptiste Robin studied at the Paris Conservatorium under Marie-Claire Alain, Olivier Latry and Michel Bouvard. From 2000-2010 he was organiste titulaire of the famous Clicquot organ in Poitiers. In 2010, Robin was appointed Organist of the Royal Chapel of the Palace of Versailles.He has performed in 20 European countries, China, Japan, South Korea, Canada and nearly half of the states of the USA.
Alana Brook
Thursday 23 October, 1pm | Recital
Free Admission
Alana Brook is Assistant Director of Music at Wakefield Cathedral, and principal organist for the Cathedral Choir. Alana hails from Adelaide, where she was Organ Scholar at St Peter’s Cathedral before moving to the UK in 2015.
She has held organist positions at Ripon and Lincoln Cathedrals. She is a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists, winning the Turpin/Durrant prize in 2021, and has given recitals around the UK, including at the 2022 Three Choirs Festival.
Daniel Roth
Sunday 23 November, 2:30pm | Recital
Tickets $40/$30 Buy Now
A true giant of the organ world, Daniel Roth has held the post of organiste titulaire at Saint-Sulpice in Paris since 1985 (emeritus since 2023), following in the hallowed tradition of Charles-Marie Widor and Marcel Dupré as curator of the historic Cavaillé-Coll organ there.
Roth has mesmerized organ music lovers for decades with his service improvisations, and performances drawn from the full gamut of organ repertoire, particularly in the regular ‘auditions’ after Sunday mass at Saint-Sulpice.
Photo credit: Joe Vitacco