About William Saunders
William Saunders is an accomplished musician with a growing reputation as an organist and conductor. He is currently Assistant Director of Music at Ipswich School and Deputy Organist of St Edmundsbury Cathedral. He is engaged in an extensive organ recital programme which has recently taken him to Westminster Cathedral, Wells Cathedral and Norwich Cathedral. In 2010 he will again tour Northern Germany, giving recitals in Hamburg and Cologne Cathedral. He conducts the Prometheus Singers and performed with them in Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast at Snape Maltings.
At school in Suffolk, he won the Chamber Music Ensemble Class in the National Festival of Music for Youth. While being taught organ by James Parsons, he took up organ scholarships at Sheffield Cathedral and Sheffield University where he read music and graduated with first class honours in 2003. During his time at Sheffield, he conducted the University Choral Society. On his return to Suffolk, he was appointed Organist of St Mary-le-Tower Ipswich. Recitals at the Cambridge Summer Music Festival and Oundle International Festival were followed by his first performances in Germany. This exposure led to recordings on the Regent Records label: Dignity and Impudence (St Mary’s Redcliffe), Tower Power (St Mary-le-Tower), and Animal Parade (Brentwood Cathedral).
The Organists Review made Dignity and Impudence Editor’s Choice in May 2008 – “William’s playing is quite astounding: musicality, flawless technique and mind-boggling organ management.” He is regularly organ tutor at Oundle for Organists and, this year, gives recitals at Bath Abbey, Tewkesbury Abbey and Westminster Abbey.
Below is a list of venues William has performed at in recent years:
All Saints Northampton, Ampleforth Abbey, Arundel RC Cathedral, Bath Abbey, Birmingham Cathedral, Blackburn Cathedral, Bremen, Brentwood RC Cathedral, St Catherine’s College Cambridge, Chelmsford Cathedral, Clare College Cambridge, Cologne Cathedral, Coventry Cathedral, Durham Cathedral, Ely Cathedral, Fotheringhay PC, Hexham Abbey, Leeds Parish Church, Lichfield Cathedral, Lincoln Minster, Norwich Cathedral, Oakham Parish Church, Pembroke College Cambridge, Portsmouth Cathedral, Romsey Abbey, Royal Albert Hall, Ripon Cathedral, Salisbury Cathedral, Sheffield Cathedral, St Edmundsbury Cathedral, St John’s Ranmoor PC Sheffield, St Mary’s Bury St Edmunds, St Mary’s Redcliffe Bristol, St Mary-le-Tower Ipswich, St Margaret’s PC Kings Lynn, St Michael’s Croydon, St Michael’s PC Framlingham, St Michaelis Cathedral Hamburg, St Peter’s PC, Sudbury, St Pauls’ Cathedral London, St Petri Hauptkirche Hamburg, Southwell Minster, Tewkesbury Abbey, Wells Cathedral, Westminster Cathedral, Winchester Cathedral, York Minster.