Stephen King has retired after 33 years and eight months as Brentwood Cathedral organist. An Anglican, and an NHS accountant by day, he is now Organist Emeritus.

The organist at Brentwood Cathedral has retired after 33 years and eight months in the job, and has been given the title of Organist Emeritus.

Stephen King’s departure was announced by the Diocese of Brentwood on 28 August. A reception attended by parishioners, choir members and dignitaries followed a Mass at the cathedral, at which he played some favourite pieces of music.

The diocese notes a coincidence in the length of service. He arrived at the cathedral aged 33 years and eight months, and left having served exactly that long.

One more thing about the man who played a Roman Catholic cathedral for three decades. He is an Anglican.

What he was playing

The instrument at the west end of the nave is older than the building around it, and it is not originally from Brentwood at all.

Historic England’s listing for the cathedral records that the organ was built by the London firm of Alfred Hunter in 1881 and came from St Mary-at-the-Walls in Colchester, an Anglican church that is now redundant. It was rebuilt and enlarged by Daniels of Clevedon. Quinlan Terry designed it a new classical case (list entry 1479422).

The listing describes the console as forming “a high pedestal which supports a giant Corinthian Order with a central pediment”, a shape it traces to the basilica fronts Palladio used on churches in Venice.

He arrived just after the cathedral was rebuilt

The building King played in for three decades had barely opened when he took the post. On the diocese’s own count of 33 years and eight months, his arrival falls around the turn of 1992 into 1993.

The rebuilt cathedral was opened and consecrated by Cardinal Basil Hume on 31 May 1991, roughly 18 months earlier. Quinlan Terry’s classical addition had been built between 1989 and 1991, wrapped around the surviving portion of a Gothic church of 1860-61 by Gilbert Blount.

Historic England listed the whole thing at Grade II* on 27 May 2022, giving these among its reasons:

  • it is “the first classical cathedral in the country since St Paul’s“
  • it is “revolutionary in its radical use of classical architecture to create a centralised worship space” in line with the Second Vatican Council
  • the interior is “a light, lofty and harmonious space of great purity”

The scheme had not been an easy one. The listing records that Brentwood Council refused planning permission on the grounds that the extension would be an “incongruous and alien feature” in the town centre conservation area. The decision was overturned on appeal by the Secretary of State in March 1988.

What was said

Three tributes are quoted in the diocese’s account.

Vincent Thompson is a former High Sheriff of Essex and Vice Lord-Lieutenant of Essex. He has been a trustee of the Brentwood Cathedral and Choral Trust for over 25 years. He credited King with “extraordinary technical skills and dedication”.

“Your warmth, and your generosity, your humour, in addition to your technical musical skills, have contributed enormously to [the development and well-being of] the cathedral choir and the vision of the late Bishop Thomas McMahon,” he said. The square brackets are the diocese’s own.

The Dean, Canon John Harvey, said: “We have been uniquely privileged every Sunday to have such a great quality of music over so many years.”

Andrew Wright, the cathedral’s Master of Music and the diocese’s Director of Liturgical Music, called him “highly talented, totally reliable, very hard working and very kind”, adding: “Brentwood Cathedral would not be on the map internationally without your hard work and your vision.”

Music was the second job

For most of the 33 years, the cathedral organist was doing it alongside a full career in accountancy.

He started the piano at five. The organ came at nine, after a Wednesday evening recital at the Royal Festival Hall and a nudge from what he calls “a benevolent gentleman at church, who suggested I might like to have a go”. He went on to play regularly at St Michael and All Angels in Gidea Park.

He was a junior exhibitioner at Trinity College of Music on piano and organ. Then came an organ scholarship to the University of Sussex, where he read Maths.

“Accountancy was my means of earning a living and music took second place,” he said, “but in reality, I had two jobs throughout my working life.”

That working life was spent on the charity side of the NHS: Moorfields Eye Hospital, the Royal London, St Bartholomew’s, and finally the Royal Free, from which he retired in 2017. He has also been a trustee of the Royal College of Organists and chairman of its finance committee.

The diocese lists the other groups his time has gone to, two of them in this borough:

  • Hutton and Shenfield Choral Society
  • Southend Boys and Girls Choirs
  • the Royal College of Organists
  • Bravissima

Over the same period, composers including John Rutter, Diana Burrell, Colin Mawby and Philip Ledger wrote music specifically for the cathedral, and its choirs sang at Notre Dame and at St Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

“I have enjoyed it immensely,” he said. “It has given me so many opportunities, most of which I couldn’t have dreamt about.”

He does not intend to stop playing. The diocese says he is already taking services where asked, including at Chelmsford Cathedral and St Edward’s Anglican Church in Romford, and expects him to deputise at Brentwood.

The diocese’s music department page currently lists James Devor as Acting Assistant Cathedral Organist. No permanent successor has been announced.

What it means for you

The cathedral on Ingrave Road is a working parish church as well as a Grade II* listed building, and its Sunday music is open to anyone who wants to hear it. Mass times and the choir’s schedule are published by the Diocese of Brentwood.

The organ case is at the west end of the nave. It faces the central altar across the north-south axis Terry laid out, which is the opposite of the usual east-west arrangement.

Historic England’s full list entry is free to read and describes the interior fitting by fitting. It covers the ash choir stalls Terry designed and the number eight motif that recurs through the building.

Sources

Related: things to do in Brentwood and Brentwood planning news.