Edward Higginbottom

Edward Higginbottom (born 16 November 1946, Kendal) is a music scholar, organist, choirmaster and conductor. Most of his career has been as organist at New College, Oxford, where he led their choir for more than 35 years and produced a large number of choral recordings.

Musical biography

Before moving on to St Mary's Church in Warwick, Edward was a chorister at his local parish church where he started playing the organ. and became a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists. He toured regularly in France at that time as director of the Cambridge University Purcell Society.

He was appointed as the Organist and Director of Music at New College, Oxford in 1976. While the main role of the choir is to provide liturgical music for worship, Edward went further, organizing economically viable choir tours and a broad set of musical recordings. By doing so, he "has helped the cause of such institutions through a period when financial constraints and changes in social attitudes have threatened choral foundations".

Retiring from New College in 2014, he continues his musical career as a freelancer. In spite of his retirement, however, he was named in March 2019 as the Director of Chapel Music at St Peter's College, Oxford for the 2019/20 academic year, pending the appointment of a successor to Jeremy Summerly in 2020.

Personal life Edward and his wife Caroline have 7 adult children, including his son (who was also a chorister) Orlando, better known professionally as Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, an animal chiropractor, a jeweller, a doctor, a teacher, a timpanist, and a writer.

An early episode of ITV's Inspector Morse featured a character based on Edward Higginbottom (although the suspect, and his obsession with Spangles and Trebor Mints, bears no similarity to the real Edward Higginbottom).

Recordings Recent recordings include: Title Composer Performers Year Music for Salzburg Cathedral Mozart Choir of New College Oxford, Collegium Novum 2013 Musique sacrée Charpentier Choir of New College Oxford, Oxford Baroque 2013 Britten, The Sacred Choral Music Benjamin Britten Choir of New College Oxford 2013 Haydn, Nelson Mass Joseph Haydn Choir of New College Oxford, New Century Baroque, Jonty Ward, Hugh Cutting, Nick Pritchard, Tom Edwards 2012 Illumina: Music of Light Mahler, Rutter, Bach and others Choir of New College Oxford 2012 Francois Couperin, Exultent superi Francois Couperin Soloists of the Choir of New College Oxford, Collegium Novum 2011 W. A. Mozart, Requiem Mozart Choir of New College Oxford, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment 2011 Claudio Monteverdi, Vespro della Beata Vergine 1610 Claudio Monteverdi Nicholas Mulroy, Thomas Hobbs, Thomas Raskin, Choir of New College Oxford, Charivari Agreable 2010 J S Bach, Motets Bach Choir of New College Oxford 2009 The Victorian and Edwardian Anthem Elgar, Parry, Stainer and others Choir of New College Oxford, Nicholas Wearne, David Newsholme 2008 Nicholas Ludford, Missa Benedicta & antiennes votives Nicholas Ludford Choir of New College Oxford 2008 Haydn, The Creation Joseph Haydn Lawson, Muller, Stout, Choir of New College Oxford, Oxford Philomusica 2008 Evensong at New College Oxford Harris, Coward, Stanford and others Choir of New College Oxford, Nicholas Wearne, Robert Patterson, Jane Shaw 2008 The Art of the Chorister Mendelssohn, Couperin, Mozart and others The Choristers of New College Oxford, Collegium Novum String Ensemble, Collegium Novum Baroque Strings 2008 Poulenc and his French Contemporaries Poulenc, Francis/Messiaen, Olivier/Villiette, Pierre Choir of New College Oxford, David Newsholme, Nicholas Wearne 2006 Macmillan and his British Contemporaries Macmillan, Anderson, Dove and others Choir of New College Oxford, Robert Patterson, Nicholas Wearne 2006 Handel, Messiah (1751 Version) Handel Jenkinson, Jones, Brookes, Davies, Spence, Dougan, Choir of New College Oxford, The Academy of Ancient Music 2006 Copland and his American Contemporaries Copland, Hailstork, Stravinsky and others Choir of New College Oxford 2006 The Georgian Anthem Wesley, Crotch, Battishill and others Choir of New College Oxford 2004 J S Bach, St John Passion Bach Gilchrist, Bernays, Dougan, Bowman, Beale, Baldy, Littlewood, Choir of New College Oxford, Collegium Novum 2003

Publications related to music Edward Higginbottom has edited music by François Couperin and Michel Corrette, and written articles on French Baroque music. "The French classical organ school", Cambridge Companion to the Organ