Robert Costin

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Robert Costin is a British organist, harpsichordist, and music educator. He is Head of Academic Music and Organist at Sherborne School.[1] He has held organist appointments in the United Kingdom and New Zealand and has performed internationally as a recitalist and recording artist.

Life and career

Costin began his musical career as a chorister at Peterborough Cathedral and later became a music scholar at Oundle School. He studied organ and harpsichord at the Royal Academy of Music from 1989 to 1990 and was Organ Scholar of Pembroke College, Cambridge, from 1990 to 1993. In 1990, he was awarded a Fellowship of the Royal College of Organists (FRCO). In 2025, he was appointed an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music (ARAM) in recognition of his contribution to the music profession.[2]

Costin has held organist appointments at Wellington Cathedral of St Paul, Holy Trinity Cathedral, Auckland, and Blackburn Cathedral.[3] His teaching appointments have included positions at Worksop College, Bedford School, Ardingly College, Highgate School, St Paul's Cathedral School, St Louis School in Milan, Rugby School Thailand, and Sherborne School.[4]

As a performer, Costin has appeared throughout Europe, Australasia, and North America.[5][6][7]

Recordings

Costin's recordings have focused particularly on the organ and keyboard music of Johann Sebastian Bach, alongside works by Herbert Howells, Franz Liszt, Julius Reubke, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Joseph Haydn.

His recording of Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier on the Metzler organ of Trinity College, Cambridge, was reviewed in Gramophone, while his recording of The Art of Fugue received a five-star review in Choir & Organ.[8][9]

Discography

  • Organ Triumphant (Kiwi Pacific Records)
  • Howells: Organ Music (Atoll Records)[10]
  • The Excellent Art of Voluntary (Atoll Records)
  • Liszt and Reubke: Organ Works (Atoll Records)[11]
  • Bach: Goldberg Variations (Stone Records)[12]
  • Bach: Trio Sonatas (Stone Records)
  • Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier (Stone Records)[13]
  • The Classical Organ: Music by C. P. E. Bach, Mozart and Haydn (First Hand Records)
  • Bach: The Art of Fugue (First Hand Records)

References

  1. "Sherborne School Staff". Retrieved 11 August 2023.
  2. "The Royal Academy of Music Announces Associate Honours 2024–2025". 13 February 2025. Retrieved 18 February 2025.
  3. "Recital Review, Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue, New York". 6 April 2008. Retrieved 11 August 2023.
  4. "Recital Review, Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue, New York". 6 April 2008. Retrieved 11 August 2023.
  5. "World renowned organist goes back to roots". Retrieved 2 February 2025.
  6. "Concert Review: Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, Auckland Town Hall". 15 April 2011. Retrieved 3 February 2025.
  7. "Recital Review, Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue, New York". 6 April 2008. Retrieved 11 August 2023.
  8. "J.S. Bach: Das Wohltemperirte Clavier". Retrieved 15 June 2026.
  9. "J.S. Bach: Die Kunst der Fuge (The Art of Fugue), BWV 1080". Retrieved 15 June 2026.
  10. "From organ to orchestra: one producer's exciting search for sonic thrills". July 2008. Retrieved 3 February 2025.
  11. "Liszt and Reubke Organ Works review". MusicWeb International. May 2009. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
  12. "Goldberg Variations review". The Independent. August 2013. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
  13. "A Labour of Love". Radio New Zealand. 7 April 2017. Retrieved 3 February 2025.