APPOINTMENT OF DIRECTOR OF MUSIC

Canon Anthony O'Brien Dean is pleased to announce that Mr Timothy Noon has been appointed Director of Music in succession to Mr Terence Duffy, who is due to retire at the end of July.   Mr Noon is currently Organist and Master of Choristers at St David's Cathedral, Pembrokeshire and will take up his new post in September 2007.

Timothy Noon was born in 1974 and began his musical career as a chorister in Hereford Cathedral Choir, learning the organ with Dr Roy Massey. At the age of seventeen he was appointed Organ Scholar of Canterbury Cathedral, and the following year became Organ Scholar at Christ Church, Oxford where he also read for a degree in music. In 1993 he became a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists, winning six prizes in the examination, including the coveted Limpus prize. On graduating with First Class Honours, Timothy was appointed sub-organist of St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin. He returned to Canterbury as Assistant Organist in January 1997 where, in addition to his work at the cathedral, Timothy was organist of the King’s School and Musical Director of The Canterbury Singers.

Since his appointment as Organist and Master of the Choristers of St Davids Cathedral and Artistic Director of the St Davids Cathedral Festival in September 2001, he has firmly established himself as one of the most active musicians in West Wales, not least through his work as Principal Conductor of the Dyfed Choir and Conductor of the St Davids Cathedral Festival Chorus. With both choirs he has conducted acclaimed performances of major choral and orchestral works, such as Verdi’s Requiem and Belshazzar’s Feast. Timothy has helped to reinvigorate the work of the Royal School of Church Music in West Wales as Chairman of the local Area Committee, by directing organ playing workshops and singing days. He has also directed several international summer singing courses for the RSCM at Salisbury Cathedral and Ely Cathedral.

As an organist, he is a frequent solo performer, having given concerts in many prestigious venues such as St Paul’s Cathedral and Westminster Abbey. He has also toured extensively throughout Europe with Canterbury Cathedral Choir and St Davids Cathedral Choir.

Timothy has appeared many times on television and radio and has made several commercial recordings to date as soloist, accompanist and conductor. He is also active as a composer and arranger and his many projects have included music for brass and organ commissioned specially for the opening service of the 1998 Lambeth Conference, an anthem for St Cecilia’s Day, written for the visit of Her Majesty the Queen to St Davids Cathedral, on 22 November 2001, and various works published by the RSCM.

Mr Noon, 33, is married andhas two children.   His wife, Sarah, has been appointed Director of Studies at Chetham's Music School, Manchester, and also takes up her new post in September.