About

Michael Chamberlain is an organist, choral conductor, accompanist and composer based in London and Milton Keynes. He is currently Organ Scholar at Southwark Cathedral, having previously served as Michael James Organ Scholar at Portsmouth Cathedral and as a Gap Year Music Assistant at The Portsmouth Grammar School. Michael graduated from the University of St Andrews in 2025 with an integrated Master’s degree in Mathematics. During his time there, he held the University Organ Scholarship, regularly accompanying St Salvator’s Chapel Choir in services, concerts and tours. From 2023 to 2025 he was also Musical Director of the St Andrews Madrigal Group, conducting repertoire ranging from Renaissance polyphony to works including John Corigliano’s Fern Hill and Rachmaninoff’s Vespers.

During his year at Portsmouth, Michael regularly accompanied the Cathedral Choir in services and concerts and led rehearsals for the Cathedral’s choristers and probationers. His year encompassed solo organ recitals, continuo playing, piano accompanying, delivering aural and theory lessons at The Portsmouth Grammar School, and serving as accompanist to Cantemus Chamber Choir. Several of his liturgical compositions also received their first performances at the Cathedral. As a recitalist, Michael enjoys performing a broad repertoire. Recent recitals and concerts have featured works by Bach, Buxtehude, Mendelssohn, Hindemith, Howells, Peeters, Messiaen and Tournemire. In April 2025 he performed Poulenc’s Concerto for Organ, Timpani and Strings with members of the St Andrews Chamber Orchestra. Michael is an Associate of the Royal College of Organists.

Michael is also an accomplished pianist and accompanist and holds the ARSM diploma in piano performance with distinction. Recent concert work has included Vaughan Williams’ Songs of Travel and Finzi’s Let Us Garlands Bring, alongside continuo performances of Bach’s St John Passion and Handel’s Messiah. As a composer, Michael writes principally for voices and organ, although he also enjoys opportunities to write for instrumentalists in chamber settings. A Voice of One Calling was awarded third place in the 2024 ESAF Young Composers’ Competition, adjudicated by Dame Judith Weir. More recent works include the Missa Brevis Sancti Andreae, as well as a number of liturgical works written for Portsmouth Cathedral.

Michael began learning the organ as an Organ Scholar at Ss Peter and Paul, Olney, where he gained his first experiences of accompanying and conducting a church choir under Lee Dunleavy. He has since studied with Anne Marsden Thomas, James Parsons, and Dr Tom Wilkinson, and has participated in masterclasses with Henry Fairs, Bine Bryndorf, Pieter van Dijk, and Thierry Escaich, among others.