Simon Hogan

Performer

Simon Hogan is the Sub-Organist and Assistant Director of Music at Southwark Cathedral, a post which he combines with being Organist to the Cathedral Singers of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, and a portfolio of freelance work in and around London.

Simon was a chorister at St Mary Redcliffe, Bristol, and it was during this time that he started learning the piano and organ, developing a passion for cathedral music which has stayed with him to this day. Following organ scholarships at Bristol and Salisbury Cathedrals he moved to London in 2008 to study organ performance at the Royal College of Music where he subsequently graduated with first class honours. During his final year at the RCM Simon was Organ Scholar at St Paul’s Cathedral, where he regularly accompanied and directed the world-famous choir and gave recitals on the renowned Willis organ. In 2012 Simon moved to Southwell, Nottinghamshire, where he spent seven years as Assistant Director of Music at Southwell Minster. Here he directed the Minster’s girls’ choir and the Minster Chorale, and played the organ for all services, recordings, tours and broadcasts.

As a soloist Simon has given recitals in venues across the UK, including the cathedrals of Durham, Hereford and Westminster, The Albert Hall, Nottingham Town Hall, and Rochdale Town Hall. Recent notable performances include the complete organ symphonies of Louis Vierne in a single day, the premiere of a new work for eight organs and electronics by Wolfgang Mitterer for Karlsruhe’s 300th anniversary, and a performance of the Poulenc Organ Concerto with the Orchestra of the Kolobov Novaya Opera Theatre, Moscow.

Simon has studied organ performance with Sophie-Véronique Cauchefer-Choplin, Daniel Cook, David Graham, Robert Quinney, and Colin Walsh. He studied conducting with Paul Brough and Peter Stark, and harpsichord with Terrance Charlston. Simon is the principal organist for JAM, an organisation which commissions and performs new music for brass, organ and choir by leading contemporary composers, and as such he has enjoyed working with some of the country’s finest ensembles, including The BBC Singers, the Chapel Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge, Gesualdo Six, and Onyx Brass. Simon’s solo recording from Southwell Minster on the Priory label, released in 2015, has been met with critical acclaim.