Professor John Morehen JP MA DLitt PhD FRCO FRCCO Hon.FGCM

John Morehen was born in Gloucester. He went up to New College, Oxford, as Organ Scholar (1961-4), graduating with the highest First Class Honours degree of his year. He then undertook doctoral research at King's College, Cambridge (1964-7), pursuing organ studies with Ralph Downes, and assisting at the RAF Church of St. Clement Danes, Strand, and at Hampstead Parish Church. He was also organist to the Martindale Sidwell Choir, the Hampstead Choral Society, and the London Bach Orchestra. He interrupted his research in 1966 to spend a semester at The College of Church Musicians at the National Episcopal Cathedral, Washington DC, as 'Ralph H. Lane Memorial Scholar'. On graduating from Cambridge he returned to Washington as Lecturer at the College of Church Musicians and Lecturer in Applied Music at American University, serving also as Washington critic for The Musical Times. He returned to the UK in 1968 on appointment as Sub-Organist at St George's Chapel, Windsor, where he was Organist for many Royal and State occasions. 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 subsequently as the inaugural Head of the School of Humanities. 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. For over 40 years he has been involved in prestigious editorial projects, including the British Academy 'major project' Early English Church Music (Assistant Editor, 1972-80, General Editor, 1980-95) and Musica Britannica (member of the Editorial Committee since 2003, and Trustee since 2007). His scholarly editions include the English church music of Christopher Tye, the complete Latin and English church music of Thomas Morley (3 vols), the English madrigals of John Amner, Richard Nicolson, John Hilton 'the Younger' and Giovanni Croce, Thomas Ravenscroft's Pammelia/Deuteromelia (both 1609), William Byrd's Psalmes, Songs and Sonnets (1611), and Claudio Merulo's Recercari (1567). 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 most recent articles, published in The Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, deal with Elizabethan and Jacobean music printing. He has also given presentations on computer applications in musicology (especially text underlay, keyboard fingering, and composer-authentication) at conferences in Orsay (1981), Paris (1984), The Hague (1986), Toronto (1989), and Washington DC (1993).

As recitalist, lecturer, examiner and adjudicator John has toured Europe, the USA, Canada and Australia. For 25 years, from 1964-89, he was a frequent BBC solo recitalist and continuo player, giving broadcast 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. His championship of contemporary music has involved numerous first performances (and first broadcasts), including works by Christopher Brown, Adrian Cruft, Martin Dalby, Paul Patterson, Ned Rorem, Leo Sowerby, Bohuslav Martin, and Egon Wellesz. He conducted the USA Premiere of Maurice Duruflé's Mass Cum Jubilo in Washington National Cathedral in 1968.

John Morehen has served as:

• Adviser to The Leverhulme Trust and 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 representative at the European Pilot Project for Evaluating Quality in Higher Education (Brussels, 1995)
• Panel Member of the Humanities Research Board (1994-7)
• Member of the Advisory Committee of Arts and Humanities Data Service (Performing Arts) (1995-2003)
• Music Adviser to the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission (1996-2000)
• President-Elect, President, and Past-President of The Incorporated Society of Musicians (2002-5), the UK's professional association for musicians
• Trustee of Chetham's School of Music, Manchester (2007-12)

From 2002-9 he was Fellowship Director for the Guild of Church Musicians, and he has sat on the Guild's Council and Academic Board since 2002. He has served as Examiner at numerous UK universities, and was an External Examiner to the University of Malta from 2001-12; he was an examiner for the ABRSM until 2011. He has twice served as Organist to United Grand Lodge of England. In the City of London he is Master of the Worshipful Company of Musicians.

John Morehen was a JP for Nottingham from 1991-2011. He actively supports the work of 'Good Vibrations' and 'Music in Prisons', both of which promote music workshops in prisons and secure hospitals. Within the East Midlands he has served as Conductor of the Nottingham Bach Choir (1982-9) President of the East Midlands Choirs Charitable Trust (1993-2000), Patron of the Nottingham Young Musician competition (since 2003), Patron of the St. Mary's (Nottingham) Choral Scholarship Scheme (since 2005), and President of Nottingham Harmonic Choir (since 2008). He has also served as Music Advisor to Nottingham Lunchtime Proms (1986-9), and as Convenor of the North Midlands Chapter of the Royal Musical Association.

John and his wife Marie (an alumna of The New England Conservatory of Music, Boston, and of American University, Washington DC) live in rural Nottinghamshire. John's interests include antiques (especially English domestic silver), genealogy, enjoying country life, and indulging in nostalgia.


Awaiting presentation to Her Majesty The Queen at the City of London's 90th Birthday Dinner for HRH Prince Philip, Fishmongers' Hall,
June 2011 (Photo: Gerald Sharp Photography)


With HRH The Princess Royal at Prince Philip's 90th Birthday Dinner, Fishmongers' Hall, June 2011 (Photo: Gerald Sharp Photography)


John (Senior Warden) and Marie welcome guests to the Midsummer Banquet of the Musicians' Company at Guildhall, June 2012
(l-r: Michael Spencer, Alderman Dr Andrew Parmley, Master (partly hidden), John and Marie, Sir Anthony Cleaver (Junior Warden)


John and Marie, with Lord Archer and Dame Mary Archer, following John's Installation as Master of the Worshipful Company
of Musicians, Drapers' Hall, November 2012 (photo: Peter Holland)



John presents Claire Iselin (Trinity Laban) with the Musicians' Company Silver Medal at Drapers' Hall (November 2012)
(photo: Peter Holland)



John's Armorial Bearings were devised by Mr Hubert Chesshyre, CVO (Clarenceux King of Arms, 1997-2010), who explains the symbolism as follows:

The red, yellow and black are from the arms of New College, Oxford, King's College, Cambridge, and the Worshipful Company of Musicians. The Scales of Justice relate to John's service as a Justice of the Peace. The lyres are symbols of the Worshipful Company of Musicians' and of the Office of Organist to United Grand Lodge of England. The moorhen, perched on the open fan, represents John's surname, and the chick is for the benefits he - with Marie's assistance! - has brought to children. The fan itself relates to John's maternal family line (Fann), while the motto 'Justitia' marks his obsession with fairness.

Website updated 12 May 2013