Jonathan Hope

Jonathan Hope is quickly gaining a reputation at home and abroad as one of the most dynamic young organists of his generation. Educated at George Abbot School in his hometown of Guildford, he studied initially with Stephen Lacey, John Belcher and David Sanger, and then at the Royal College of Music, London with Margaret Phillips and Sophie-Véronique Cauchefer-Choplin.

Jonathan became Assistant Director of Music at Gloucester Cathedral in March 2014, where he is the principal organist for the cathedral services, director of the Cathedral Youth Choir, accompanist to the Gloucester Choral Society, Musical Director of the Saint Cecilia Singers, and Accompanist to the Gloucester Three Choirs Festival Chorus. Choir tours have recently included visits to Canada and Sweden with the Cathedral Choirs, and Bavaria with the Gloucester Choral Society. In November 2015 Jonathan accompanied the choirs of Worcester, Hereford and Gloucester Cathedrals and the Three Choirs Festival Chorus in an anniversary concert at Buckingham Palace, in the presence of HRH The Prince of Wales. The 2016 Three Choirs Festival (held at Gloucester) was Jonathan’s first time as Festival Organist - involving performances of Elgar’s The Kingdom, the Enigma Variations and Mahler’s 8th Symphony (Symphony of a Thousand) amongst others. In the same festival, Jonathan conducted the Saint Cecilia Singers in a performance of Howells’ Requiem and the world première of Philip Lancaster’s War Passion.

Increasingly in demand as an organ recitalist, Jonathan’s concert career to date has taken him throughout the UK, as well as France, Germany, Italy, the USA and Australia. He has performed solo recitals at Westminster Cathedral, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey and Saint-Sulpice, Paris. Jonathan also regularly improvises to silent movies, which have recently included Lon Chaney’s The Phantom of the Opera and The Hunchback of Notre Dame (the latter in the 2016 Three Choirs Festival), Harold Lloyd’s Safety Last and Cecil B. DeMille’s The King of Kings. Jonathan has arranged many orchestral works for the organ, including Brahms’ Academic Festival and Tragic overtures, Elgar’s In the South, and other orchestral works by Dvořák, Dukas, Glinka, Mascagni, Rossini and Stravinsky.

In 2015 he released his first solo disc, Gloucester Experience (Willowhayne Records), featuring a new work, Homage à Paris, by John Hosking, works by former Gloucester Cathedral organist John Sanders and Reubke’s mighty Sonata on the 94th Psalm. In the summer of 2016 he released a DVD, The Grand Organ of Gloucester Cathedral, with Priory Records (featuring his own transcription of Dukas’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice).

Before coming to Gloucester, Jonathan was Organ Scholar of Winchester Cathedral (under Andrew Lumsden). At Winchester, Jonathan played for the funeral of the composer Sir John Tavener. Previously, Jonathan was Organ Scholar of Southwark Cathedral (under Peter Wright), serving as Acting Sub-Organist & Director of the Girls’ Choir in his final term, a term which included prestigious services for the 2012 London Olympics and HM The Queen's Diamond Jubilee.

Through his work in the Three Choirs Festival, he has played with the Philharmonia Orchestra and worked with guest conductors such as Simon Halsey, Martyn Brabbins, Sir Andrew Davis and Edward Gardner. Recently, he has played in performances of Bach’s St. John Passion, Elgar’s The Apostles, Duruflé's Requiem and Bernstein's Chichester Psalms at Gloucester Cathedral, and often plays with the BBC National Chorus and Orchestra of Wales at the Wales Millenium Centre and St. David’s Hall, Cardiff. He often broadcasts live as a performer on both BBC Radio 3 and 4 and BBC Radio Gloucestershire. Jonathan is also Area Chair of the Royal School of Church Music Gloucester Area.