Directors of Music

Ben Barnes (2022)

Born in Scotland, Ben Barnes moved to Dublin at the age of 5, joining St Patrick’s Cathedral choir shortly after and at the age of 18 graduating to an alto lay vicarship which he has retained until now. Since completing a BA degree in music at TCD he has pursued a career as a freelance musician, which includes directing Cantóirí Choir, accompanying and teaching. He is an accomplished conductor and instrumentalist, and has performed with many ensembles on their international tours.

Tristan Russcher (2011)

Born in Australia, Tristan has been playing the piano since the age of three. After completing his A-Levels at Ampleforth College, York, Tristan was awarded the organ scholarship at Worcester College, Oxford. After completing his Bachelor of Arts in Music, Tristan accepted the post of joint organ scholar at St. Patrick’s Cathedral and Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin and went on to win prizes in the Royal College of Organists’ diploma examinations, gaining his Fellowship diploma in 2004. In 2005 he was the runner-up in the Pipeworks International Organ Festival and in 2008 presented a joint recital series of the complete organ works of Olivier Messiaen. Tristan has many years of experience in directing children’s choirs and has worked with the best musical ensembles in Ireland.

Peter Parshall (2010)

Born in 1971, Peter was Organ Scholar of Westminster College, Oxford, between 1990 and 1993, studying the organ with David Saint at the Birmingham Conservatoire. In 1994, Peter was appointed Director of Music at St Mary Magdalen Church, Oxford, where, in 1997, he was instrumental in the establishment of a professional eight-voice choir, which still sings at the weekly High Mass as well as undertaking concerts and recordings. During this time, he also held professional posts at Westminster College, Oxford (Director of Chapel Music) and at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford (Organist to the Cathedral Singers of Christ Church). Before moving to Dublin in 2003, he was an accompanist to the Royal School of Church Music’s Southern Cathedral Singers, playing for services in cathedrals all over the Midlands and South East of England. He has taught on a number of the RSCM’s residential courses, most recently at Oxford, Durham and Canterbury Cathedrals and also at York Minster. Peter has been co-ordinator of the Royal School of Church Music in Ireland since 2004 and is responsible for the development of the RSCM on the island of Ireland, together with the implementation of its programmes of education and training. He is the co-editor of the choral anthology, Weddings for Choirs, published by Oxford University Press, and is a contributor to the recently published New Dictionary of National Biography, also for Oxford University Press. As a composer, Peter has had choral works commissioned and premièred by choirs in the UK, Ireland and the USA. His music has been performed widely, and has been broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and RTÉ Lyric FM.

Fraser Wilson (2008)

Fraser Wilson has held musical appointments in East Anglia, Scotland and Yorkshire, and has just spent a year in Dublin as Organ Scholar of Christ Church Cathedral. He was educated at Norwich School and spent a gap year in St Andrews, working in St Leonards School and at All Saints’ Church (and playing on the choir’s centenary CD), before moving to Sheffield to read Music. There, amongst other things, he directed the University chamber choirs, was Sub Organist of St John’s, Ranmoor (one of the finest parish churches in England) and taught singing and theatre arts to young people. He holds the Sir Thomas Beecham Scholarship from the University. Fraser has played organ concertos by Poulenc and Handel and is an Associate of the Royal College of Organists. As a counter-tenor, he has made appearances as a soloist in Bach’s St John Passion and as “The Sorceress” in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. He is also an occasional composer and arranger. In his spare time Fraser enjoys cooking, fine wines and football (although the less said about the fortunes of his beloved Norwich City the better).

Malcolm Wisener (1985)

Malcolm Wisener left St Bartholomew’s in September 2007 to take up the position of Organist and Master of the Choristers at St Fin Barre’s Cathedral in Cork.

David Milne (1970)

G. David Lee (1956)

Alfred S. Burrowes (1946)

Edward Samson Fry (1938)

William Henry Vipond Barry (1884)

J. C. Marks (1883)

William Henry Owen (1867)

Ben Barnes

Tristan Russcher
Tristan Russcher

rPeter Parshall
Peter Parshall

Fraser Wilson
Fraser Wilson

Malcolm Wisener
Malcolm Wisener

G. David Lee
G. David Lee

William Henry Vipond Barry
William Henry Vipond Barry