‘A smouldering musician, with incredible rhythmic precision’, Richard Moore has performed to audiences across the globe, from North America to Australia and New Zealand, as well as throughout Europe. Concerto appearances have included Lou Harrison’s Concerto for Organ with Percussion Orchestra (collaborating with conductor Thomas Søndergård), and amongst recent recording projects is a first recording of Elizabeth Poston’s Te Deum (“Praise him with trumpets”/Hilary Campbell and Bristol Choral Society, Delphian 2025) and the premiere of Philip Moore’s devotional sequence Via crucis (“Via crucis”, Convivium, 2023).

Richard is Sub-Organist at Christ Church, Oxford, where he articulates the liturgies of the Cathedral and is Deputy Conductor of the world-renowned Cathedral Choir. Before moving to Christ Church he was Sub Organist at Guildford Cathedral where in addition to acting as Deputy Conductor for the Cathedral Choirs he accompanied the choral foundation in liturgies, recordings, and broadcasts, under the direction of Katherine Dienes-Williams.

A prize-winning graduate of the Royal College of Music, where he studied organ with David Graham and improvisation with Sophie-Véronique Cauchefer-Choplin, Richard also read Music as Organ Scholar of St John’s College Oxford, studying with ethnomusicologist Martin Stokes. Whilst at the RCM he was involved in the Historical Performance department, including the 24 Violons du Roi project, which culminated in an appearance at the 2012 BBC Proms. During this time, Richard was also the William and Irene Miller Organ Scholar at St Paul's Cathedral (2011-2013), where, in addition to playing for services and training choristers, he also played at a number of important occasions, including the funeral of Baroness Thatcher. After leaving St Paul's, he spent a year as Acting Assistant Organist of St Martin-in-the-Fields, where he was custodian of the important Walker organ, and accompanied the three principal choirs in a varied liturgical and concert programme, and on BBC Radio 3 and 4. A highlight of his time at St Martin’s was the service to commemorate the 70th anniversary of VJ Day, which took place in the presence of Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, and was broadcast on BBC television.

Beyond his duties at Christ Church, Richard is one half of the Trumpet and Organ duo “Illumina”, whose “Illuminations, Dances, and Poems” recording (Convivium, 2017), received 4 stars in Organists Review. A ‘technically very confident’ musician who finds ‘fine colours’ on the organ, Richard studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Music with Bine Katrine Bryndorf and holds the Soloist Diploma of the Royal Danish Academy of Music. Committed to the belief that music is a constant dialogue between scholarship and performance, Richard is active as a researcher and writer. His interests include British organ culture in the second half of the twentieth century, and currently he is working on the organ music of Ethel Smyth. He is a trustee of the Arabesque Trust, a charity which supports visually-impaired organists, and sits on the steering committee of the British Organ Archive. 

© Richard Moore, January 2025