Keith Hearnshaw was born in West Bromwich and began learning the Organ at the age of thirteen. He spent four years at the Birmingham Conservatoire where he studied Organ with David Saint and also with Mark Shepherd at Lichfield Cathedral. While studying in Birmingham, Keith held the position of Organ Scholar at St Chad’s R.C. Cathedral. In 1991 he was a prize winner at the Oundle International Organ Festival.
In the 1990’s Keith held Organ Scholarships at Lincoln Cathedral under Colin Walsh and later at Liverpool Cathedral under Professor Ian Tracey. It was during this time he gained his FRCO.
He is much in demand as a Concert Organist playing a number of solo concerts a year here and abroad. Keith on many occasions has been a guest Organist playing duets with the Pavarotti of the Organ, friend and mentor the late Great American Virtuoso Carlo Curley in his friendly “Battle of the Organs” concerts . In July 2004 he played one of the IAO National Congress Recitals on the Isle of Wight at All Saint’s PC in Ryde. During 2007-2008 Keith appeared alongside Carlo Curley in the Kings Lynn Festival, Gothenburg Sweden and on the 30,000 pipe 6 manual Grand Court Wanamaker Organ at Macey’s Store, Philapdelphia, USA the largest working pipe organ in the world. Recent venues include The Spreckels Organ Pavillion International Summer Organ Festival 2013, Balboa Park, San Diego, USA playing to over 2000 people!
He has made a number of Radio and TV appearances, including BBC Radio 2 "The Organist Entertains" show marking Elgar’s 150th Anniversary. For the RCO Keith recorded the sound track for an animation DVD to inspire youngsters to take up the Organ. This was released summer 2008 and can be viewed at on his website. It won the Innovation Category "BBC Connect & Create Awards 2009".
His concert programmes are wide and varied, and are presented musically and verbally in a style that makes the organ very accessible. He will sometimes include music with scrolling images from recent movies such as Harry Potter, Titanic, and Pirates of the Caribbean. Keith’s aim is to promote the art of Organ playing and help establish it in its rightful place as 'The King of Instruments'. Keith’s concerts can also include high definition big screen video projection which allows the audience a close up view of the action at the Organ Console; this proves to be very popular with all audiences. For reviews of his concerts see his
website.
You can contact Keith directly by
email.