Clive Driskill-Smith is appointed organist of All Saints’ Episcopal Church, Fort Worth, Texas, succeeding Rick Grimes, who retires as organist of the church for the past 24 years. Driskill-Smith was awarded the Sheila Mossman Memorial Prize by the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music before winning a Music Scholarship to Eton College in 1990. From 1992 to 1994, he played bassoon in the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and in the National Youth Chamber Orchestra.
After a year as organ scholar at Winchester Cathedral and assistant organist at Winchester College, he went to Christ Church, Oxford University, as organ scholar. While at Christ Church, he was awarded the ARCM (Associate of the Royal College of Music) diploma in piano performance and the FRCO (Fellow of the Royal College of Organists) diploma with the Limpus, Shinn, and Durrant Prizes and the Worshipful Company of Musicians’ Silver Medal. He graduated in 1999 with first class honors in music and with the MPhil degree in 2001. A pupil of David Sanger and Hans Fagius, he was awarded a travelling scholarship by the Royal College of Organists in 1999 and the W. T. Best Scholarship by the Worshipful Company of Musicians in 2002; both of these funded further study in Europe with Marie-Claire Alain, Guy Bovet, Andrea Marcon, Luigi Tagliavini, and Harald Vogel.
Winner of the Royal College of Organists’ Performer of the Year Competition in 2000 and the Calgary International Organ Competition in 2002, Driskill-Smith regularly performs throughout Europe, North America, Asia, and Australia. In the UK he has played at the BBC Proms, the Royal Festival Hall London, Symphony Hall, Birmingham, and Bridgewater Hall, Manchester. He has had numerous tours in the United States. He frequently performs with percussionist Joseph Gramley, the duo known as Organized Rhythm. Clive Driskill-Smith and Organized Rhythm are represented by Phillip Truckenbrod Concert Artists.
For information: www.organist.org.uk and www.concertartists.com.
Photo credit: Clive Barda
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