18 August 2024 at 20:00

Simon Harden

Simon Harden lectures in Organ performance at the TU Dublin Conservatoire and is Organist and Director of Music at Christ Church Cathedral, Waterford.  Regular concert engagements take him throughout Europe and further afield. He has performed solo recitals in such venues as Notre-Dame Paris, La Sainte-Trinité Paris, Westminster Abbey London, Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall, St Jacobi Hamburg and the Martinikerk Groningen.

Simon’s studies began in Dublin at Trinity College Dublin with further postgraduate performance degrees taken in Berlin, Hamburg and Paris.Simon has won several prizes in international competitions including 1st prize and audience prize at the ‘International Schnitger Organ Competition’ in the Netherlands and 2nd prize at the ‘Grand Prix Bach de Lausanne’.

In 2021, he founded and became artistic director of the Waterford International Organ Festival. Further activities include serving on jury panels at national and international competitions and teaching at summer organ academies. Simon’s research into new and historic organs has received publication in the international ‘Choir and Organ’ magazine. Solo CD recordings include performances on the Marcussen organ in Gettorf and the new Glatter-Götz organ in Bad Vilbel.