PAUL HALE is Rector Chori and Cathedral Organist at Southwell Minster, Nottinghamshire, having previously been Assistant Organist of Rochester Cathedral, Organist of Tonbridge School and Organ Scholar of New College, Oxford, where he studied with Sir David Lumsden and Professor Nicholas Danby, gaining an MA in Music.

Paul is Conductor of the Nottingham Bach Choir, an Examiner for the Royal College of Organists, Chairman of the RSCM Southwell & Notts Area, President of the East Midlands Church Choirs Trust and a Trustee of the Percy Whitlock Trust. He is Organ Adviser to the dioceses of Southwell and Lincoln, and is in considerable national demand as an independent organ consultant; instruments he has designed can be found in four cathedrals, in universities such as Glasgow, great churches such as Bridlington Priory, schools such as Glenalmond, concert halls such as Leicester’s De Montfort Hall and numerous other places.

He teaches the organ and has trained a stream of organ scholars at Southwell many of whom have gone on to have distinguished careers. He holds the FRCO and ARCM diplomas, was recently elected an FRSA and an Honorary FGCM, and is an Accredited Member of the Association of Independent Organ Advisers. He was President of the Cathedral Organists Association 1999–2001 and is about to start a period as Chairman of the annual Diocesan Organ Advisers’ Conference and also as President of the Nottingham & District Society of Organists.

Paul is a regular guest choral conductor in the UK and abroad (USA and Europe), for festivals, choral workshops and summer schools, having done much work for the RSCM over the years. As a player he has performed in most of the major venues in England, also playing abroad (2005 Brussels, 2007 Paris/USA; 2008 Norway), as well as appearing on television and radio. His organ and Southwell Minster Choir recordings have been warmly received in the musical press. Paul Hale is well known for his writings on the organ (he was a consultant and author for the second edition of The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians) and for his reviews in the inter­national journal Organists’ Review, of which he was Editor from 1992–2005.