Simon Nieminski photograph by Ian Georgeson

Simon Niemiński

Simon Niemiński was born in London and descended from an unlikely mixture of Edwardian Japanese acrobats, Lancastrian Music Hall artistes and a Polish army veteran. He studied in London at the Royal College of Music, at Cambridge University and as Organ Scholar of York Minster. He is Organist of St Mary’s Metropolitan Cathedral, and Director of Music at The Robin Chapel in Edinburgh, having previously been Organist and Master of the Music at St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, where he directed the choir in daily choral services, concerts, recordings and broadcasts.

Over the airwaves he has featured in programmes including The Organist Entertains on BBC Radio 2, to Choral Evensong several times live on Radio 3, and Pipedreams in the USA. As a recitalist, he has played at venues around the UK, Europe and the USA. His programmes often include unusual but attractive repertoire and it is his aim to play programmes which appeal to organ buffs and sceptics alike. His CD recordings have helped to revive the music of unjustly neglected composers, including releases of the Promenades en Provence by Eugène Reuchsel and the symphonies of Edward Shippen Barnes – American pupil of Louis Vierne. Reviews have included: “This is a splendid release… There is a lot of poetry here.” (The American Record Guide) and “Simon Niemiński’s playing is utterly convincing and at one stroke establishes him as a recording artist of the first rank.” (Organists’ Review). An interest in transcriptions has resulted in recordings of works inspired by Shakespeare, and another of Elgar, including the complete Enigma Variations (“Romantic organ playing at its best”: The Organ). A CD by Simon on the 2007 organ of St Mary’s Metropolitan Cathedral was reviewed as a Star Recording in The Organ magazine (“…a triumph for both organ and organist…”). Other recent CDs are of the new organ at First Baptist Church, Abilene, Texas, and the first recording of the restored 1913 Brindley & Foster organ in Freemasons’ Hall, Edinburgh. In October 2012 he made his first recordings for the Resonus Classics label, of Giles Swayne’s monumental solo organ work Stations of the Cross, and a second recording of the organ of Freemasons’ Hall, of works by Sir Charles Villiers Stanford, including première recordings of some pieces, to be released later this year.

Simon’s recent solo recitals have included recitals at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and Alden Biesen Castle, Belgium, and later this year this year he will play in Ontario, Canada, and St Florian’s Abbey, Austria.