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Martin Ford

Martin Ford is the Assistant Organist of Westminster Abbey. After a year as Organ Scholar at Southwark Cathedral, combined with study at the Royal Academy of Music, he took up the Organ Scholarship at Magdalen College, Oxford in 2005. Working under the direction of Bill Ives, he accompanied the choir in their daily services, BBC Radio 3 broadcasts, and CD recordings, including a release on the Harmonia Mundi label of the music of Maurice Duruflé. After graduating in 2008 with a first class degree in Music, he continued his studies at the Royal College of Music. Currently taught by Sophie-Véronique Cauchefer-Choplin, his previous teachers have included David Sanger, Susan Landale, David Titterington and David Graham.

During his time at the Royal College of Music he was appointed Assistant Organist at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square. In this role, Martin accompanied the choir for numerous BBC Radio broadcasts and a tour to the USA, before taking up his current position at Westminster Abbey in January 2012. Highlights of his time at Westminster have included playing for the service of celebration marking the 60th Anniversary of the Coronation, attended by Her Majesty the Queen and broadcast live on television, as well as accompanying the Abbey choir in appearances as part of David Starkey’s recent BBC documentary Music and Monarchy.

As well as maintaining a busy schedule as an organ recitalist, Martin is also active as a piano accompanist, having learnt with Nigel Clayton and taken part in masterclasses with Graham Johnson, Roger Vignoles and Malcolm Martineau as part of the Oxford Lieder Festival. He is a regular accompanist to the Vasari Singers, with whom he can be heard as part of a disc of Christmas music on the Naxos label, released in November 2012.