Born in Cardiff, Wales, in 1973, Iain Quinn enjoys a distinguished career as an organist, choral director and composer. He has studied with Nicolas Kynaston, Thomas Murray, William Porter (improvisation) and John Weaver. At the age of fourteen he was the youngest person ever to be appointed Director of Music at St Michael’s Theological College, Llandaff. He subsequently joined the faculty of the Blackheath Conservatory, London. Since moving to the USA in 1994 to pursue advanced studies at The Juilliard School, The Hartt School (BM summa cum laude) and Yale University (MM), he has served historic parishes in New York City and Connecticut and in 2005 was appointed Director of Cathedral Music and Organist at the Cathedral Church of St John, Albuquerque, New Mexico. As a concert organist he has performed throughout the UK, continental Europe, North America and Australia, as well as in Brazil, Hong Kong, Iceland and Japan. He is the dedicatee of works written for him by Leslie Howard, Wilfred Josephs, Áskell Másson, Leonard Salzedo and Amaral Vieira, among others. He has also premiered choral works by Judith Bingham, Stephen Paulus, Anthony Piccolo and Tarik O’Regan, and has to date made ten recordings. As a composer he has written works for choir and organ that have been performed around the world in addition to being featured at the Annual Festival of New Organ Music and the Festival of Contemporary Church Music, London and the John Armitage Memorial Concerts. His works have also received UK premieres by the choirs of Gonville and Caius College and Trinity College, Cambridge, under Geoffrey Webber and Stephen Layton respectively. Among numerous honours, Iain Quinn has received an award from The Prince’s Trust to further cultural exchange within the European Union, and annual awards from
The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers in recognition of performances of his compositions. He holds the diploma, with distinction, of Fellow of the Royal Schools of Music and is a Fellow of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust. In 2009 he was awarded a Doctoral Fellowship by Durham University to pursue a PhD in musicology. He was also appointed Director of Music and College Tutor at the College of St Hild and St Bede and Director of the Durham University Chamber Choir.