Teachers of the II International Summer Organ Academy 2013

Thomas Trotter is one of Britain’s most widely admired musicians. The excellence of his musicianship is reflected internationally in his musical partnerships. He performs as soloist with, amongst many others, the conductors Sir Simon Rattle, Bernard Haitink, Riccardo Chailly and Sir Charles Mackerras. He has performed in Berlin’s “Philharmonie”, the “Gewandhaus” in Leipzig, the “Concertgebouw” in Amsterdam, the “Musikverein” and the “Konzerthaus” in Vienna and London’s Royal Festival Hall. He has played inaugural concerts in places such as Princeton University Chapel USA, Auckland Town Hall in New Zealand, the Royal Albert Hall London, and Moscow's International Performing Arts Centre. In May 2002 he was the recipient of the Royal Philharmonic Society award for Best Instrumentalist, the first organist ever to win this award. In 2012 he was named International Performer of the Year by the New York Chapter of the american Guild of Organists.

Thomas Trotter was appointed Birmingham City Organist in 1983 in succession to Sir George Thalben-Ball, and he is also Organist at St Margaret’s Church, Westminster Abbey and Visiting Fellow in Organ Studies at the Royal Northern College of Music. Earlier in his career he was organ scholar at King’s College, Cambridge, winning the First Prize at the St Albans International Organ Competition in his final year. He received an Honorary Doctorate from Birmingham City University in 2003 and from Birmingham University in 2006.

Alongside his regular recitals in Birmingham, Thomas Trotter tours on four continents and plays at many international festivals such as Bath, Salzburg, Edinburgh and the BBC Proms. He is an active recording artist, appearing on the Decca, Hyperion, Regent and Chandos labels. Forthcoming engagements include the premieres of new works by Errollyn Wallen and Judith Weir, appearances at London’s Covent Garden (Martin’s Harpsichord concerto with the Royal Ballet), the concert-halls of Aarhus, Stavanger, Berlin and Moscow, and tours to USA and Japan.

Current as of March 2013.


Konstantin Volostnov

The Moscow organist, pianist and harpsichordist Konstantin Volostnov was born in Moscow in 1979. He began studying organ music in Maria Potashnikova's class in Sergei Prokofiev Music School. From 1994 to 1999 he studied in the Academic Music College of The Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory (piano and organ classes of Alexei Shmitov).

Raúl Prieto Ramírez’s career as an artist of international stature was confirmed when he was appointed, at age of 27, as the first Organist-in-Residence at the Auditorio Nacional de Musica in Madrid, Spain's national concert hall. Within the first six months of his appointment he increased attendance at the hall's organ recitals by a multiple of 30, and critics hailed him as one of the most exciting talents in the music scene in Spain.

He is now a full time concert organist with a busy global schedule which takes him to major Festivals and Concert Halls - from the Mariinsky Theater and Moscow Concert Hall in Russia, to Spivey Hall, Kotzschmar Organ Series, Methuen Memorial Music Hall and AGO National Convention 2012 in the USA, and lectures for Indiana University, Ball State University, AGO Indianapolis, AGO Schreveport, Celebrity Series in Huntsville, jury at International Organ Competitions like the Alexander Goedicke in Moscow, as well as collaborations in summer academies and recitals in Spain and throughout Europe.

Raul's special appeal to audiences and critics alike owes much to his thrilling performances, given entirely from memory, which combine dazzling virtuosity with great expressive power. His performances on YouTube are enjoyed by an ever-growing international network of devotees. At his annual recital on the largest organ in Catalonia, at the Basilica in Mataro, Spain, he regularly draws an audience of over a thousand.

It all started when at the age of eleven Raúl became fascinated by the sound of the organ in a local church and for the next five years taught himself to play while pursuing all the information he could find about the instrument in libraries. When he enrolled at Salamanca University to study philosophy, he came across the ideas of the great conductor Sergiu Celibidache and felt such a deep impact that he decided to devote his life to music.

Raul studied piano with Leonid Sintsev at the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory in St. Petersburg, organ with Ludgar Lohmann at the Hochschule für Musik in Stuttgart (solistenklass), and he has participated in master classes with Marie-Claire Alain, Guy Bovet, Lionel Rogg, Eric Lebrun, Szigmon Szathmáry, and L. F. Tagliavini among others.

In addition to his solo performances, Raul has much experience of the concert repertoire with the Spanish National Orchestra, the National Spanish Choir and other major Spanish Symphony Orchestras under international conductors. In 2008 he was the organist for, and an actor in, a film featured at over 300 cinema festivals throughout the world.

In everything he does Raúl's passion is to raise the appreciation and understanding of the organ as a musical instrument through exciting performances, multi-media presentations, audience participation, and use of the internet. His first two compact disc releases on the 'Brilliant Classics' label in 2011 were recorded at Milan Cathedral in Italy (Liszt, Reger, Franck and Saint-Saëns) and at the famous modernist Palau de la Musica in Barcelona (featuring Duo MusArt in piano & organ duets).