Duncan Ferguson - Organ
Duncan Ferguson was appointed Organist and Master of the Music at St Mary’s Cathedral in 2007 at the age of 26, making him the UK’s youngest Cathedral Organist. In this role he has responsibility for the extensive musical life of St Mary’s. He trains the choristers and directs the Cathedral Choir, the only choir in Scotland that sings daily services in the Anglican tradition and which has its own choir school. Duncan’s debut recording with St Mary’s was received with great critical acclaim in the national and international press, earning an ‘outstanding’ accolade from International Record Review, with him being described as ‘a wizard’ by The Times. In 2008 an interview in the same newspaper led to an editorial about the success of the introduction of girls into the same top line as boys at St Mary’s, a story that was also picked up by BBC Scotland. He has recently conducted in the choir in a recording of Bruckner’s Latin motets, described by the BBC as ‘just superb. It’s the kind of disc you want to turn up to full volume and lose yourself in’.
Duncan started his musical education at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he was Organ Scholar between 1999 and 2002. He accompanied the choir and played solo organ pieces on numerous CDs and broadcasts. Special events included accompanying the premiere of an oratorio written for the choir by Sir Paul McCartney and recording the soundtrack to the BBC’s Blue Planet natural history series. After being awarded a Distinction for his Master of Studies degree, Duncan became Organ Scholar at St Paul’s Cathedral, London. Here he gave regular recitals both at St Paul’s and throughout the City, and played the organ at a number of diocesan and national services. His organ teachers included David Goode, Kevin Bowyer, and Thomas Trotter.
Duncan moved to Edinburgh in 2005 to take up the post of Assistant Organist at St Mary’s Cathedral. He premiered a new work by Malcolm Archer at the Incorporated Association of Organists’ conference in 2007. More recently he has played the organ for BBC Songs of Praise, recorded the St Mary’s organ as part of the Edinburgh Organs project, and performed in venues in the USA in summer 2010.