Diocese of East Anglia appoints new Director of Music

The Diocese of East Anglia has appointed a new Director of Music for the diocese and for St John’s Cathedral in Norwich.

David Grealy, a native of Galway in the west of Ireland, comes to the Diocese of East Anglia from the Diocese of Leeds, where he has been Assistant Organist at Leeds Cathedral as well as a tutor on the diocesan schools’ singing and keyboard studies programmes.

David will also be leading the Diocese of East Anglia’s Schools Singing Programme, which aims to bring high quality choral music into the life of Catholic schools up and down the Diocese. ‘The programme has already been successfully established in the Cambridgeshire part of the Diocese and David will be seeking to expand it.

Welcoming the appointment, Bishop Peter Collins said: “David emerged after a highly competitive process with a very strong field of applicants in which the candidates’ skills in liturgical music and in leading adult and children’s choirs were put to test over two days.

“David will be carrying on the tradition of excellent Catholic music-making at St John’s Cathedral and leading its choirs. He comes to us from Leeds Cathedral where his high standard of musicianship has been on display, as well as previously at Westminster and in Europe.   

David said: “I am delighted to be taking up the position of Director of Music for the Diocese of East Anglia and  St John’s Cathedral. I look forward to continuing the great work of my predecessor, Daniel Justin, in cultivating a fine tradition of choral, organ and liturgical music and in placing it at the heart of worship in the cathedral community and the wider diocese.

“In the past I have worked in Catholic dioceses in Ireland, England and Germany – each with its own unique traditions and approach to sacred music – and I very much look forward to bringing this experience to my new role.“

David is a graduate of Maynooth University (Ireland) and the Hochschule für Musik, Cologne, and is also a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists. He has previously held positions at Westminster Cathedral and St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral, Dublin.

He will be taking up the post in early January.

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