Professor John Morehen JP MA DLitt PhD FRCO FRCCO Hon FGCM

John Morehen was educated at The Crypt Grammar School, Gloucester, and at Clifton College (Governor 1993-2007). On leaving Clifton he was awarded a scholarship to The Royal School of Church Music, where he took the Fellowship and Choir-Training diplomas of the Royal College of Organists. He went on to New College, Oxford, as Organ Scholar (1961-64), studying organ with Geraint Jones, and graduating with the highest First Class Honours degree of his year. He pursued doctoral research at King's College, Cambridge, from 1964-67, pursuing further organ studies with Ralph Downes, and serving as assistant to Martindale Sidwell at the RAF Church of St. Clement Danes, Strand, and at Hampstead Parish Church, during which time he was organist to the Martindale Sidwell Choir, the Hampstead Choral Society, and the London Bach Orchestra. His research was briefly interrupted when he spent a semester at The College of Church Musicians at the National Episcopal Cathedral, Washington DC, as holder of the Ralph H. Lane Memorial Scholarship. In 1967 he returned to Washington as joint-Lecturer at the College of Church Musicians and at American University, serving also as Washington music critic for The Musical Times. He returned to the UK on appointment as Sub-Organist at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle (1968-72), holding this position concurrently with teaching posts at The Royal School of Church Music and Royal Holloway College, University of London. In 1973 he was appointed Lecturer in Music at Nottingham University. In 1979, during research leave from Nottingham, he was Adjunct Lecturer at The State University of New York (Binghamton). He became Professor of Music at Nottingham in 1989, serving also as foundation Head of the School of Humanities (Archaeology, Classics, Music, Philosophy and Theology, 1998-2001). In 2005 he received the degree of D.Litt from the University.

John Morehen's main interests are in music of the 16th and 17th centuries. He has been involved in many prestigious editorial projects, including Tudor Church Music (Associate Revising Editor of the 'octavo' series), The Oxford Book of Tudor Anthems (contributor), Early English Church Music (Assistant Editor, 1972-80; General Editor, 1980-95; editor of the complete English church music of Christopher Tye and Thomas Morley), The English Madrigalists (editor of the English madrigals of Richard Nicolson, John Amner and Giovanni Croce), The Byrd Edition (editor of Psalmes, Songs and Sonnets, 1611), Recent Researches in the Music of the Renaissance (editor of Claudio Merulo's Recercari (1567) and John Hilton's Ayres (1608)), and Musica Britannica, (member of the Editorial Committee 2003-, Trustee 2007-, and co-editor - with David Mateer - of Thomas Ravenscroft's Pammelia, Deuteromelia, Melismata and Briefe Discourse, [forthcoming]). He is the editor of English Choral Practice, 1400-1650 (CUP, 1995), which deals with performance-related issues surrounding English choral foundations. He has written widely on 16th- and 17th-century music, and has contributed extensively to Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart,The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2001) and The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004).

John Morehen's latest writings, published in vols 11 & 12 of The Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, are concerned with music printing practices in Elizabethan and Jacobean England, and, in particular, with the work of Edward Allde and Thomas Snodham. His ongoing research centres on the music prints of John Windet. He has given presentations on computer applications in musicology (especially concerning text underlay, keyboard fingering, and composer-authentication) at international conferences in Nottingham (1979), Orsay (1981), Paris (1984), The Hague (1986), Toronto (1989), and Washington DC (1993). He is an Editorial Advisor to the journal Computing in Musicology.

As an organ recitalist, lecturer, examiner and adjudicator John Morehen has toured Europe, the USA, Canada and Australia. From 1964 until 1989, he was a frequent BBC solo recitalist, giving recitals from King’s College, Cambridge, Hampstead Parish Church, St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, The Great Hall of Nottingham University, St Mary’s Church, Clifton Village, Southwell Minster, and Lincoln Cathedral. He has championed contemporary music, and his recitals have included numerous first performances (and first broadcasts), including works by Christopher Brown, Adrian Cruft, Martin Dalby, Paul Patterson, Ned Rorem, Leo Sowerby, Bohuslav Martinů and Egon Wellesz. He directed the North American Premiere of the Mass Cum Jubilo by Maurice Duruflé in Washington National Cathedral in 1968.

In the City of London (where he is a Freeman) he is on the Court of the Worshipful Company of Musicians and of City University. He has served as Adviser to The Leverhulme Trust and to The Humanities Research Board (now The Arts and Humanities Research Council), Subject Assessor for the Higher Education Funding Council for England (1994/5), the UK delegate at the European Pilot Project for Evaluating Quality in Higher Education (Brussels, 1995), Panel Member of the Humanities Research Board (1994-97), Member of the Advisory Committee of Arts and Humanities Data Service (Performing Arts) (1995-2003), Adviser to the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission (1996-2000), Member of the Executive Committee of the Incorporated Society of Musicians (1989-97), and Trustee of Chetham's School of Music, Manchester (since 2007). From 2002-2009 he was Director of Studies for the Fellowship programme of the Guild of Church Musicians, and he is a member of the GCM's Council and Academic Board. He was awarded Honorary Fellowship of the Guild in 2004. He has served as External Examiner at numerous UK universities, and was External Examiner to the University of Malta from 2001-2006; he is also an examiner for The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. John Morehen is a former President of The Incorporated Society of Musicians, the UK's professional association for musicians and music teachers.

John Morehen has been a JP for Nottinghamshire since 1991. Within the East Midlands region he has also served as President of the East Midlands Choirs Charitable Trust (1993-2000), Patron of the Nottingham Young Musician competition (since 2003) and of the St. Mary's (Nottingham) Choral Scholarship Scheme (since 2005), and President of Nottingham Harmonic Society (since 2008).

John and his wife Marie (a graduate of The New England Conservatory of Music, Boston, and of American University, Washington DC) have two children – Simon (b.1974) and Catherine (b.1976) - and two grandchildren. John’s main interests are collecting antiques (especially English domestic silver), genealogy, enjoying country life, and indulging in nostalgia.





The Megaron Concert Hall, Athens, May 2007



John Morehen presents the ISM's 'Distinguished Musician Award' to the composer, pianist, and scholar John McCabe CBE (March 2004)

Website updated September 2009