Adrian Gunning

Whilst studying at Goldsmiths' College University of London, and after graduating from Trinity College of Music London, he studied organ with Nigel Allcoat, Nicolas Kynaston and Naji Hakim in Paris, and participated in master classes with Ewald Kooiman and Dame Gillian Weir. Adrian Gunning gave the British première performance of Hakim’s Fantasie Sur Adeste Fidelis in 1988, and the world premiere recording of Mariales in 1993.

Adrian Gunning was President of The Organ Club of Great Britain from 1998-2001 and instigated a CD recording, recorded partly by him, to mark the 75th anniversary of its founding by the British organ builder Henry Willis. He was organist of the Roman Catholic Church of St. James, Spanish Place, London, for eight years where he found great inspiration in Plainchant and discovered the mystical sound world of Charles Tournemire's music. Adrian's first recording of music by Charles Tournemire (Libra LRCD 155) has become a bench mark for those interested in Tournemire’s L’Orgue Mystique, and it established Adrian Gunning as one of the UK’s leading interpreters of Tournemire’s organ music.

Adrian Gunning lives in Islington, London where he has been organist at St. John the Evangelist since 1986. Here he has done much to restore the prestige of its remarkable Walker organ, by recording a CD for the church's 150th anniversary, and by initiating the annual celebrity organ series, one opened this year by Dame Gillian Weir. Adrian's recitals in 2009 include appearances at St John the Evangelist Islington, The Union Chapel London, Westminster Cathedral and Abbey London, St James’s Spanish Place London, and a tour in America. For further information, please visit www.adriangunning.com.