David Titterington

David Titterington is a British organist, educator and artistic director.

Early life and education David Titterington was born on 10 January 1958, the son of Geoffrey Bridge Titterington and Claire Elizabeth Titterington (née Parsons).

He studied piano, violin and viola in the Junior Department of the Northern School of Music with John Foster, Anne Brindley and Ida Carroll. He went on to study organ with William Morgan and Derrick Cantrell of Manchester Cathedral. For many of his school years he played viola in the Lancashire Schools Symphony Orchestra and chamber ensembles.

He was an organ scholar at Pembroke College, Oxford (BA Hons 1980, MA 1984), and at the Conservatoire de Rueil-Malmaison, Paris with Susan Landale and Marie-Claire Alain, where he was awarded a Premier Prix (à l’unanimité avec les félicitations du jury) in 1984 and Prix d'Excellence in 1985. , where he has been Head of organ studies since 1996. In 2017 he was conferred as professor with a personal chair from the University of London. He has also been Honorary Visiting Professor of Organ at Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in Budapest since 1997. Between 1993 and 2010, he gave annual masterclasses at the Dartington International Summer School.

Since 2007 he has been artistic and executive director of the St Albans International Organ Festival.

Since 1989 he has been associated with London's Dutch Church where he has been director of music for many years.

In 1992, for the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, he was artistic director of the European Organ Festival and Competition. He was organ curator at St John's Smith Square from 2012 to 2022.

Other teaching positions include honorary professor at Liszt Ferenc State University (1999), Distinguished Visiting Professor at Tokyo University of the Arts (2018), Visiting Professor at Korea National University of Arts (2016, 2022) and Visiting Professor at Yonsei University, Seoul (2018). and a Liveryman of the Musicians' Company. He is a member of the Senior Common Room at Pembroke College, Oxford, where his portrait was displayed in the Dining Hall throughout the year 2023.

Awards including honorary fellow of Bolton Institute of Higher Education (1992), Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Organists (1999), Honorary Fellow of King's College London (2018), honorary member of the Royal Academy of Music (2008), elected Fellow Commoner Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge 2018.

Performances Titterington appears in recitals and concertos festivals worldwide. For eighteen years, he gave annual masterclasses and recitals at the Dartington International Summer School. At the BBC Proms 2000, he played in the UK premiere on 1 September 2000 of Hans Werner Henze’s Ninth Symphony with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and in the BBC Proms 2009, he gave his second solo recital (25 July 2009) of works by Elgar and Peter Dickinson. Royal Festival Hall recitals include his debut in 1986 followed by a recital in the 50th anniversary recital series which included the premiere of Stephen Montague’s Toccare Incandescent commissioned by the Southbank Centre. In February 2016, his recital included the world premiere of a Southbank commissioned work by Sally Beamish, Chaconne.