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Dame Gillian Weir | |
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| Born | Gillian Constance Weir (1941-01-17)17 January 1941 (age 85) Martinborough, New Zealand |
| Education | Whanganui Girls' College |
| Alma mater | Royal College of Music, London |
| Occupation | Organist (retired) |
| Organisation | Patron of theNew Zealand Organ Association |
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| Awards | St Albans International Organ Festival (1964) |
Dame Gillian Constance WeirDBEFRCM (born 17 January 1941) is aNew Zealand-British organist.
Weir was born inMartinborough, New Zealand, on 17 January 1941.[1] Her parents were Clarice Mildred Foy (née Bignell) and Cecil Alexander Weir. She received her schooling at Queen's Park School, Wanganui Intermediate, andWanganui Girls' College.[1] When she was 19, she was a co-winner of the Auckland Star Piano Competition, playingMozart. A year later she won a scholarship of theAssociated Board of the Royal Schools of Music in London. There, she studied with the concert pianistCyril Smith and the renowned organistRalph Downes, and in her second year (1964) won the prestigiousSt. Albans International Organ Competition.
Weir made her début at theRoyal Albert Hall while still a student, as soloist in thePoulenc Organ Concerto, on the opening night of the 1965 season of thePromenade Concerts, and in the same year at theRoyal Festival Hall in recital, then the youngest organist to have performed there publicly. She returned to the Albert Hall to make the first recording on thegreat organ after the 2004 rebuild.[2]
In 1967, she married Clive Rowland Webster. The marriage was dissolved in 1972. In 1972, she married Lawrence Irving Phelps, an American organ builder.[1]
Her performance in 1964 of a work byOlivier Messiaen occurred at a time when his music was little-known outside France and she became particularly associated with this composer; she has several times performed his complete works in series. Her recording for Collins Classics (new re-release forPriory Records on 2002) was hailed as "one of the major recording triumphs of the century" inIn Tune Magazine. Her distinguished position as a Messiaen interpreter has been reinforced by her CD release of his complete organ works to great acclaim as well as by her contribution to Faber'sThe Messiaen Companion and other publications. At Messiaen's request, she gave the first UK performance in January 1973 of theMéditations sur le Mystère de la Sainte Trinité at theRoyal Festival Hall from afacsimile of the composer's manuscript, given to her after he gave the world premiere in Washington D.C.[3][4]
Her series of six weekly recitals inWestminster Cathedral of Messiaen's organ works in 1998, the 90th anniversary of his birth, brought huge audiences, and for her performances she was awarded the Evening Standard Award for Outstanding Solo Performance, the first organist to have been so honoured.[citation needed]
Weir's artistry was marked in 1999 by the re-issue on CD of her series of Argo recordings, and her nomination byClassic CD magazine as one of the 100 Greatest Players of the Century, and byThe Sunday Times as one of the 1000 Music Makers of the Millennium. In December 2000, ITV'sSouth Bank Show chronicled her worldwide activities as performer, teacher and recording artist.[5]
Weir performed in her own six-part television seriesKing of Instruments for the BBC in 1989;[1] it drew large audiences in Great Britain.
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