Colin Walsh’s association with Cathedral music goes back over forty years. He has served, in various capacities, St George’s Chapel Windsor Castle, Christ Church Oxford (where he worked closely with Simon Preston and studied the organ with Nicholas Danby), Salisbury Cathedral and St Albans Cathedral. He went to Lincoln Cathedral in 1988 as Organist and Master of the Choristers, becoming Organist Laureate in 2003.
As an organ recitalist he has played in all the major venues in the UK, most European countries, the USA, Australasia, Hong Kong and Russia.
His studies in Paris with the blind French organist and composer Jean Langlais inspired him to specialise in 19th and 20th century French organ music. In 1988 he played at The Royal College of Organists some music of Olivier Messiaen in front of the composer. His recordings on CD and DVD as a choral conductor, accompanist and soloist number nearly forty over many years and various labels. He has appeared as organ soloist in the BBC Radio 3 ‘Live in Concert’ series, and more recently he has recorded a live performance of Messiaen’s La Nativité for Priory Records, a CD of Bach in Lincoln Cathedral, and Dupré and Demessieux from the famous Cavaillé-Coll organ of St Ouen, Rouen.
He describes the famous ‘Father’ Henry Willis Organ of Lincoln Cathedral as ‘one of the best’. He teaches in Cambridge and London and is an Honorary Doctorate of Music from the University of Lincoln. His interests include travel, animals and, of course, good food.