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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, accompanist to the Gloucester Choral Society, Musical Director of the Saint Cecilia Singers, and Accompanist to the Gloucester Three Choirs Festival Chorus. Choir tours in 2015 included visits to Canada and Sweden with the Cathedral Choirs, and Bavaria with the Gloucester Choral Society. Recently 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) will be 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 will conduct the Saint Cecilia Singers in a performance of Howells’ Requiem and the world première of Philip Lancaster’s War Passion.

Increasingly in demand as a recitalist, Jonathan’s career to date has taken him throughout the UK, as well as France, Germany, Italy, the USA and Australia. Recently, he has performed solo recitals at Canterbury Cathedral, Westminster Cathedral, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey and Saint-Sulpice, Paris. In summer 2015, Jonathan undertook recital tours to Germany and the USA. Further recitals in the 2016/2017 season are being planned in Sweden and Rome.

In May 2015 he released his first solo disc, Gloucester Experience (Willowhayne Records), featuring a new work, Homage à Paris, by the organist 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 will be releasing a DVD, The Grand Organ of Gloucester Cathedral, with Priory Records (featuring his own transcription of Dukas’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice) and will be recording Gloucester Experience (Volume II) with Willowhayne, featuring his own transcription of Elgar’s In the South, and Liszt’s great Fantasia and Fugue on ‘Ad nos, ad salutarem undam’.

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.

He has played with the Philharmonia Orchestra and worked with soloists including Roderick Williams, John Mark Ainsley and Brindley Sherratt. 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 increasingly accompanies the BBC National Chorus of Wales at the Wales Millenium Centre, Cardiff. He often broadcasts live as a performer on both BBC Radio 3 and 4 and BBC Radio Gloucestershire