Pipeworks International Organ & Choral Festival 2026 RTÉ CO & Stephen Farr

The opening concert of Pipeworks Festival 2026 brings together the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, internationally acclaimed organist Stephen Farr, the Pipeworks Festival Chorus and soloists Felicity Haywood, Sarah Thursfield, Rory Lynch and Eoghan Desmond in the magnificent setting of St Patrick’s Cathedral. Conducted by Pipeworks Artistic Director David Leigh, the programme moves from Elgar’s Introduction and Allegro to Kenneth Leighton’s dramatic Organ Concerto, culminating in Mozart’s Requiem.
Stephen Farr is one of the UK’s most versatile keyboard musicians, and pursues a busy freelance career as organist, accompanist and continuo player, working regularly with many of the leading period instrument ensembles including the Academy of Ancient Music, Florilegium, the English Concert, St James Baroque, the Dunedin Consort (with whom he is principal keyboard), Arcangelo, and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. He read music at Clare College Cambridge, graduating with a double first in Music and an MPhil in Musicology; he also holds a PhD from the University of Surrey.

He has played throughout Europe, in North and South America, and in Australia, and has appeared in the UK in venues including the Royal Albert Hall (where he gave a solo recital in the BBC Proms 2011, and appeared as a concerto soloist in the 2015 season); the Royal Festival Hall; Symphony Hall, Birmingham; Westminster Cathedral; King’s College, Cambridge; St Paul’s Celebrity Series; and Westminster Abbey. He also appears frequently on BBC Radio 3. Other ensemble work has included engagements with the Berlin Philharmonic, the CBSO, the LSO, and the Philharmonia.