Organ Recitals
Organ Recitals at St John's usually take place on Sundays at 6pm, prior to Evensong at 6:30pm.
You can read more about our current Organ Scholars below, and if you are interested in becoming an Organ Scholar, further information is available here.
Current Organ Scholars
Alex Robson
Alex Robson is the Herbert Howells Organ Scholar at St John’s College, where he is in his second year studying Music. Alongside accompanying the daily services at St John’s, he has performed for live broadcasts, recordings, and international tours with the College Choir, recently including concerts at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam and the Tivoli Vredenburg, Utrecht.
In 2021, Alex was Organ Scholar at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, where he played for services and special events. In 2024, he was awarded Fellowship of the Royal College of Organists (FRCO), receiving the Turpin and Durrant, Harding and Durrant, and Dr F. J. Read Prizes.
Alongside the organ, Alex has played the piano and clarinet in the Kent Youth Wind Orchestra and Kent Country Youth Orchestra. He also regularly performs as a continuo keyboardist, recently including Bach’s St John Passion with the Cambridge Collegium Musicum.
Alex studies the organ with Ann Elise Smoot and the piano with Marie-Noëlle Kendall, and has performed as a solo recitalist across the south of England. His other interests include cross-country running and foreign languages.
Tingshuo Yang
Tingshuo is the Junior Organ Scholar at St John’s College, where he studies Music in his first year. He has shown an unquenchable thirst for music since his childhood, having his first piano lesson aged four. He studied at the Royal College of Music Junior Department from 2012 until 2016, attaining his DipABSRM aged 10 and LRSM two years later. He also studied at the Conservatoire de la Ville de Luxembourg with Professor Jean Muller and was the winner of annual award of “Prix du meilleur laureat” in 2019. In April that year, Tingshuo made his solo debut with the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra.
In 2018, Tingshuo was awarded a music scholarship to Eton College, where he studied piano with Jenny Stern and organ with Philip Scriven and played regularly for the Lower and College Chapel Choirs. While at Eton, he attained his ARCO and in 2020, came runner up in the under-25s category of Composition Competition of the Royal College of Organists. In August 2023, he was highly commended in the Northern Ireland International Organ Competition and worked with David Hill as the organ scholar of the Charles Wood Festival in Armagh. Tingshuo has also been shortlisted for the NCEM Young Composers Award 2024. Currently, he studies organ with Colin Walsh.
Tingshuo’s debut piano album, J. S. Bach: Clavieruebung Part I: Partitas, will be released on Luxembourg Classics in June 2024.
Organists’ Review