Dr Simon Lindley is Organist Emeritus of Leeds Minster and Leeds Town Hall. He came to Yorkshire in 1975 following service at Westminster and St Albans Cathedrals and in the City of London. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Dr Lindley was Tutor in Organ at the Royal School of Church Music, then at Addington Palace, Croydon, and Director of Music to St Albans School.
Following an acclaimed debut at Westminster Cathedral in 1969, Simon has enjoyed a reputation as a player of distinctive style – a reputation enhanced by his live performance of the Elgar Sonata from the Royal Albert Hall in 1975 and by numerous recitals, recordings and broadcasts since.
An extensive discography includes a CD from St John’s Catholic Cathedral in Salford for Makin Organs as well as two best-selling Naxos discs; additionally for Naxos, he appears on many recordings from Leeds Town Hall with the acclaimed Orchestra of Opera North. For Chandos his credits include the Khachaturian Organ Symphony with the BBC Philharmonic and a number of issues in cornet virtuoso Phillip McCann’s series, The World’s Most Beautiful Melodies.
Dr Lindley has given more than 600 recitals at Leeds Town Hall since his collation as fourth City Organist in January 1976 and recent travels have taken him to the consoles of Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Hall and to head-line venues in Zurich and other prestigious venues at home and abroad including St Martin-in-the-Fields, St Michael’s Cornhill, Bridlington Priory, the Minsters of Dewsbury, Doncaster, Halifax, Southwell and York and the Cathedrals of Bradford, Derby, Ely, Leeds [RC] and Rochester.
He appears regularly in Battle of the Organs events and enjoys these concerts enormously.
Simon’s repertoire is centred upon the Romantic period. He is one of few concert organists regularly venturing into the world of British and American light music, and his programmes strive to entertain as well as to enlighten.
You can contact Simon directly by
email.