Biography

Jeremy Filsell is one of those rare keyboard players to have developed virtuoso talent on both piano and organ. His piano repertory is broad and encompasses many standard works and little-known pieces. Filsell has tended to appear in concert and on recordings more often as an organist, occasionally championing neglected repertory of Marcel Dupré, Barber, and Kodály. He has made dozens of recordings for several labels, including accompanying Christina Gullans on the 2020 Albany recording Alan Hovhaness: Across the Ages. Filsell was born in England on April 10, 1964. He was precocious as a child, divulging extraordinary talent early on. He debuted as a pianist at age 12 on BBC TV. In his teens, he won the Limpus Prize as an FRCO candidate from the Royal College of Organists and eventually earned a fellowship. He was also awarded a Silver Medal by the Worshipful Company of Musicians in London. Filsell studied organ at Keble College (Oxford University) and piano at the Royal College of Music with Hilary McNamara and David Parkhouse. In Paris, he took private instruction on organ from Daniel Roth. In 1993, Filsell was a prize winner at the St. Alban's International Organ Competition, and by then, his career was already in full swing as both a pianist and organist. In 1995, he began recording for Guild Records, first as an organist with the Oxford Book of Wedding Music, then as a pianist on an album of works by Howells and Stevens, then as a chamber player, with successive releases of violin and piano sonatas by British composers. Filsell launched what has probably been his most important series of recordings in 1998 when he recorded volume one of the complete organ works of Marcel Dupré. Amazingly, this critically acclaimed cycle, running 12 volumes, was completed in two years. By the early years of the new century, Filsell was a seasoned concert artist, having toured the United States, Europe, and his homeland both as a pianist and organist. He has worked with the BBC Singers and under conductors Stephen Cleobury and Pierre Boulez. Filsell has held several important teaching positions, including at the Royal Northern College of Music, Eton College, and Royal College of Music. He was named artist-in-residence at the Washington National Cathedral in 2010, and in 2019, he was appointed the organist and music director of the Church of St. Thomas, 5th Avenue, in New York. Among Filsell's recordings are a 2005 Signum Classics set of Louis Vierne's six organ symphonies, Noël Nouvelet in 2008, and Duruflé: Requiem; Grunenwald: De Profundis in 2009. In 2020, Filsell backed cellist Christina Gullans on a recording of works by Alan Hovhaness.