At Choral Evensong on Sunday 14 September, we officially welcomed Charlotte Johnston as our new Organ Scholar.
Charlotte began learning the organ at Hexham Abbey under Keith Dale, where she later became Organ Scholar. During her time there she toured internationally and performed in both the Northern Ireland and London International Organ Competitions, where in the later she was offered a masterclass following her performance of Bach’s E-flat Trio Sonata.
She went on to hold the Organ Scholarship at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge for four years while completing an integrated Master’s in Natural Sciences. With Fitzwilliam Chapel Choir she regularly accompanied and conducted, touring to major cathedrals including Ely, Ripon and St Paul’s, and recording a CD of choral and solo organ music.
Alongside her organ studies, Charlotte has increasingly pursued conducting. Highlights include directing Eric Whitacre’s Lux Aurumque in the Pantheon, Rome, and Ēriks Ešenvalds’ Stars with tuned wine glasses in Amsterdam. A passionate advocate for female composers and conductors, she was selected to conduct Maser of the King’s Music Judith Weir’s Heroic Strokes of the Bow at King’s College, Cambridge as part of the celebration of “50 Years of Women at King’s”, working with Weir in rehearsal. She has also conducted performances at West Road Concert Hall, including Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition and Florence Price’s Symphony No. 4.
Charlotte’s development as a conductor has been supported through masterclasses at the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music. She was chosen as one of only twelve of the top international up-and-coming young female conductors as part of the Glover-Edwards Programme, and won a scholarship to spend a summer at conservatoire in Paris, where she worked with the Paris Sinfonietta on Brahms’ Symphony No. 4 and Debussy’s La Mer under the tuition of Mark Shapiro.
In addition to her organ and conducting work, Charlotte is an accomplished double bassist, performing as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral player. Recent highlights include a double bill of Capuzzi and Bottesini concertos in Cambridge and Monteverdi aboard the Golden Hinde Galleon in London. She also plays in Glowworms, a new chamber music duo with harpist Catherine Horsewood-Groome, which explores repertoire connected to light and darkness, from Baroque to modern works. Beyond the classical stage, Charlotte performs as the electric double bassist in the rock band The Sitting Dux.
Charlotte is incredibly excited to be Organ Scholar at Carlisle Cathedral. Having first played the organ here as a teenager as part of the Carlisle District Music Festival its extra special to return as a postgraduate. She can’t wait to pursue her playing in such a vibrant music department alongside a wonderful team!
