Gordon Stewart was born in Dundee and after studies in Manchester and Geneva with Gillian Weir, Eric Chadwick and Lionel Rogg, was for 15 years a cathedral organist, first in Manchester then in Blackburn. For 30 years he was Borough Organist of Kirklees where he played regular concerts on the 1870 Father Willis organ in Huddersfield Town Hall. He was appointed Organist Emeritus earlier this year.
He has recorded on organs in the UK, the United States and South Africa on the Priory, Dolcan and Lammas labels and has played concertos with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, the Northern Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of Opera North and Orchestra Victoria. For over 20 years he broadcast regularly as organist and conductor on BBC radio and television, chiefly as a musical director on Daily Service, Sunday Half Hour and Songs of Praise.
Gordon’s repertoire is large and covers all the major schools of organ composition. He is well-known as a teacher and after several years as Senior Organ Tutor at the Royal Northern College of Music, was one of the organ teachers at Cambridge University, teaching the organ scholars at, amongst others, King’s, St John’s and Jesus Colleges. He has appeared as visiting tutor at courses for the Royal College of Organists, Oundle Organ Week, Gothenburg Organ Academy and Shenandoah Church Music Institute in Virginia.
Gordon has played concerts throughout the UK including Celebrity Concerts at St Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, Westminster Cathedral and Symphony Hall, Birmingham, throughout Europe, and in the United States, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
He is a former president of the Incorporated Association of Organists. He has been awarded honorary fellowships by the Royal College of Organists, the Royal School of Church Music and the Guild of Church Musicians, and an honorary doctorate by the University of Huddersfield.
