English Organist – Conductor – Composer
Jonathan Gregory
Jonathan Gregory studied at the Royal Academy of Music, London where he won Herbert Kiver Prize, and at Clare College Cambridge, where he was Organ Scholar. His teachers at the Royal Academy of Music included Martindale Sidwell, Jean Mackie and Edgar Brice, and at Cambridge David Willcocks, Peter Dennison, John Rutter and Gillian Weir. He attended courses also with Flor Peeters in Mechelen, Belgium and on early music with Piet Kee at Haarlem in the Netherlands.
As a Cathedral Organist Jonathan directed the music at St Ann’e Belfast and Leicester Cathedrals, as well as St George’s Belfast and Great St Mary’s the University Church in Cambridge. He oversaw the rebuilding of the Harrison & Harrison organ at Leicester Cathedral in 2000. He has recorded CDs at Cambridge and Leicester Cathedral. He directed many Morning Services on BBC Radio 4 and Choral Evensongs on BBC Radio 3.
Jonathan has given many performances in the UK of oratorios, orchestral music, including Bach’s St Matthew Passion, St John Passion, Mass in B Minor, Christmas Oratorio, Elgar’s Apostles, Handel’s Messiah and Britten’s War Requiem. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists, an Examiner for the Associated Board of Royal Schools of Music & the Royal School of Church Music and an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music. He has spent periods in Vietnam & Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong.
In 1992 Jonathan founded the UK-Japan Music Society and the UK-Japan Choir after interaction with Japanese musicians during the Japan Festival 1991. Their performances of western and Japanese choral music have attracted popular interest in London, Cambridge and Leicestershire. He conducted War Requiem at Ulster Hall, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, Handel’s Messiah at St John’s Smith Square, and Monteverdi’s Vespers in Leicester Cathedral.
Jonathan took Leicester Cathedral Choir of boys, girls, choral scholars and songmen to Japan twice visiting Toyama, Kyoto, Nara, Yokohama and Tokyo, through which he strengthened links with Japan, and introduced English Cathedral & church music to Japan. During the 25th Anniversary year in 2017, the UK-Japan Music Society took the UK-Japan Choir and young musicians from the UK to Japan in April, performing in Tokyo, Saitama, Kyoto, Kobe, Toyama, Oiso, Hakodate, Sapporo, the Tokyo College of Music, and Rikkyo schools in Tokyo.
For 30th Anniversary Special Programmes, Jonathan presented a Summer Concert at St George’s Windsor Castle in July 2022 in the presence of the distinguished guests and two Messiah Concerts at St John’s Wood and Monken Hadley Churches in December 2022, a Spring Concert at the Embassy of Japan, where he was presented with the Ambassador’s Award, prior to the concert in March 2023, and he has presented a Summer Concert at Yamaha Piano Hall in June 2023, which was a collaboration with Yamaha Music London.
Having been involved in Cathedral music since 1976, Jonathan is now enjoying developing his organ playing and composition styles. He enjoyed giving an organ masterclass and a recital in Kobe in June in 2016, where he introduced English organ & church music. He presented ‘History of Music in UK through Church/Cathedral music from 15th century to today, with demonstration of organ music’ at Tokyo College of Music in 2017. He took young musicians to Japan in September 2019 as part of ‘Japan-UK Season of Culture’ official event, which was also pre Rugby World Cup cultural event in Japan, presenting music from UK and Europe in Tokyo, Osaka, Kobe, Fukui and Kiyosato.
Currently he plays the organ and directs the choir at St Mary’s Monken Hadley in North London. He also plays regularly at St Mark’s, Barnet Vale and for Evensong at St John’s, Chipping Barnet, as well as being an associate organist and musician in other churches in London area including Waltham Abbey. He also teaches Organ and Singing.
As an organist & harpsichordist, Jonathan has given recitals in the British Isles, Europe, US and Japan, in Cathedrals & churches, concert halls, including St Michael’s Cathedral in Kobe, All Saints’ Chapel at Rikkyo University in Tokyo, St Mary’s Cathedral in Seoul, St John’s and Clare Colleges, Cambridge, the Embassy of Japan in London, St George’s Hanover Square and Grosvenor Chapel in London, the Church of the Advent, Boston in US, Berlin & Freiburg in Germany and Brittany.
Jonathan received a distinguished honour, the Order of the Rising Sun Gold Rays with Rosette, from the Japanese Ambassador on behalf of His Majesty, the Emperor of Japan in November 2011.
Jonathan Gregory’s Organ Photo Gallery 2
