Partridge, William

Organist from Chase City, Virginia, who studied at the Royal School of Church Music, Temple Church, Washington National Cathedral, and Westminster Abbey. His teachers included Paul Calloway, Dr. Gerald Knight, Sir William McKie, and Leo Sowerby.

In 1981, he became the organist at Christ Church Cathedral in St. Louis, Missouri. He did double duty from 1982 to 1986, serving as organist for the Bach Society of St. Louis. With William at the keys, they performed Johann Sebastian Bach’s Magnificat and Mass in B minor, Sir Edward Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius, Georg Frideric Handel’s Israel in Egypt and Samson, and Felix Mendelssohn’s Saint Paul.

Between 1996 and 1998, he was the Dean of the American Guild of Organists’ St. Louis chapter, and is still a chapter faculty member.

He played the organ on the Christ Church Cathedral Choir’s 1998 CD, The Diocese of Missouri Sings for Christmas. Other recordings on which he appears include Adagio, whereon he duets with violinist Takaoki Sugitani on Franz Schubert’s “Ave Maria”, and This Stupendous Stranger: Music for Christmas and the Epiphany, with the Choir of the Church of St. Michael and St. George.

On 15^th October 2000, he was one of several organists to participate in Pipes Spectacular!, a national celebration of organ music, at the aforementioned cathedral. He performed music by Bach, Sigfrid Karg-Elert, Joseph Jongen and Sowerby on 20^th November 2003, at same.

In addition to his organ duties at the cathedral, he is also the University Organist at Washington University’s Graham Chapel, where he accompanies the annual Messiah Sing-A-Long. The solo bits are sung by graduate students, and the audience is invited to chip in on the choruses.

On 19^th November 2006, the Washington University Symphony Orchestra presented OrganFest, in order to show off Graham Chapel’s renovated organ, with William, and Barbara Raedeke, as soloists.

A benefit concert, Hymn Sing for Haiti, was held at Christ Church Cathedral on 28^th February 2010. The program consisted of Episcopal hymns shared by Americans and Haitians. An offering was taken up to help fund Episcopal Relief and Development, which has been active in the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

On 22^nd May 2010, the newly restored Graham Chapel hosted For the Glory of the Glass: Graham Chapel Renovation Tour and Organ Concert. Guests were invited to take a tour of the chapel while William accompanied them on the chapel organ.

As a chapter faculty member, he participated in the American Guild of Organists’ Pipe Organ Encounter in June 2010.

On 21^st October 2010, he took part in the Exploring Sacred Music Seminar by serving as Canon Precentor, choirmaster and organist for a program entitled Anglican Chant: History and Practice, at Christ Church Cathedral.

William accompanied the St. Louis Trombone Quartet at the cathedral, an event billed as The Original Boneheads, on 7^th November 2010. The performance was part of the Shepley Program of Music and Arts concerts, for which he serves as Music Director. Less frolicking, but no less rollicking, was the Cathedral Choir’s rendition of Francis Poulenc’s Gloria, on 26^th December 2010. Jessie Heuser was the soprano soloist, John Stewart conducted, and William manned the pedals.

In the field of music education, he has taught at the American University School of Music, Catholic University of Puerto Rico, Converse College, the Peabody Conservatory, Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, and Webster University in St. Louis. His students have included J. Pinoake Browning, Jack Hamill, Beverly Hazelwood, Timothy Jansen, and Robert Kelley Raymond. He has also sat on the Hesse Scholarship Foundation’s Board of Directors.

His setting of Cecil Francis Alexander’s “All Things Bright and Beautiful” has been published by MorningStar Music.

Choir of the Church of St. Michael & St. George recordings
O Come, All ye faithful (Frederick Oakeley/John Francis Wade)
Choirmaster – Edward A. Wallace
Soloists – Christine Brewer, Kevin Koontz
Organists – William Partridge, Edward A. Wallace
(CD: This Stupendous Stranger: Music for Christmas and Epiphany)

He plays the organ here…

Sources:

Partridge, William

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