The Hiking Organist: Leeds Minster Launch Recital – Alex Woodrow plays Bach, Mendelssohn, Franck, Parry
The Hiking Organist: Leeds Minster Launch Recital – Alex Woodrow plays Bach, Mendelssohn, Franck, Parry at Leeds Minster
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The Hiking Organist: Leeds Minster Launch Recital – Alex Woodrow plays Bach, Mendelssohn, Franck, Parry FREE
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About the show
What would possess someone to walk 104 miles across Yorkshire and perform a public organ recital at the end of each day?
Join Leeds Minster's Director of Music, Alexander Woodrow, for the launch of The Hiking Organist – an extraordinary fundraising challenge that combines music, endurance and pilgrimage.
Over six days, Alex will walk the entire White Rose Way from Leeds to Scarborough, giving a recital in a different church each day whilst raising funds and awareness for the Leeds Minster Choral Scholarship Programme, which supports talented young singers and musicians.
The launch recital features four masterpieces of the organ repertoire:
• J. S. Bach – Prelude and Fugue in E minor (BWV 548)
• César Franck – Fantaisie in C major
• Felix Mendelssohn – Organ Sonata No. 6
• C. H. H. Parry – Fantasia and Fugue in G
Following the concert, guests are warmly invited to stay for Prosecco, juice, strawberries and scones and help send Alex on his way before he begins the 104-mile journey the following morning.
Admission is free, with a retiring collection in support of the Choral Scholarship Programme. Although tickets are not required, advance registration is appreciated to help with catering numbers.
Support the Journey. Inspire the Future.
Featuring - Alex Woodrow
Alexander Woodrow has been Organist and Director of Music at Leeds Minster since 2020 and leads a busy professional life as a choral director, organ recitalist, church musician and teacher.
He directs two chamber choirs – St Peter’s Singers of Leeds and the Huddersfield Singers – and is accompanist to the Yorkshire Philharmonic Choir. At Leeds Minster he leads a vibrant music department, directing the Choir of Leeds Minster in regular choral services and overseeing the Leeds Minster Children’s Choir in partnership with St Peter’s C of E Primary School. He also curates the Minster’s organ recital series, showcasing its renowned Harrison & Harrison organ.
Alexander directed the Choir of Leeds Minster for the live BBC One Easter Day broadcast in 2022. More recently he conducted the Choir of Leeds Minster and St Peter’s Singers in a recording of sacred choral and organ music by William Lloyd Webber for Priory Records, including the first commercial recording of the cantata The Saviour.
He studied music as Organ Scholar at Magdalene College, Cambridge and became a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists at the age of 19, winning first prizes in all categories including the Limpus Prize. An active recitalist, he has performed widely across the UK and regularly broadcasts on BBC radio and television.