Ben's Programme:
Prélude (Te Deum laudamus) – Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643-1704)
Trio Sonata I in E flat major BWV 525 – J.S. Bach (1685-1750)
Adagio for Glass Harmonica K.617a – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Prelude and Fugue in E major Op. 99 No. 1 – Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921)
Prelude and Fugue in E flat major Op. 99 No. 3 – Camille Saint-Saëns
And all about Ben:
Benjamin Chewter is Organist at the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, the largest Baptist church in the city, founded in 1650 and well-known for being pastored by Charles Spurgeon in the nineteenth century; it still holds to the same principles of traditional worship, fervent evangelism and the doctrines of grace under its present pastor, Dr Peter Masters. Alongside this work, Benjamin is a concert organist and freelance piano and organ teacher.
Educated at Christ's Hospital School in his native Sussex, Benjamin held the Organ Scholarship at Canterbury Cathedral before going up to Emmanuel College, Cambridge as Organ Scholar (where he read Music and was Organist of King’s Voices, the mixed-voice choir of King’s College Chapel). After graduating he held the Organ Scholarship at Westminster Abbey and was subsequently Assistant Organist of Lincoln Cathedral. In 2011 he was appointed Assistant Director of Music at Chester Cathedral, where he was the principal organist for services, concerts, tours and broadcasts; he moved to London in 2016 after almost five years at Chester.
As an organist and conductor he has performed extensively throughout the UK and abroad, particularly in Germany. He has also appeared frequently as an organist for live broadcasts of the Daily Service on BBC Radio 4 and Choral Evensong on BBC Radio 3. Contemporary music has a strong place in his repertoire, and he has premiered new music by Howard Skempton, Philip Moore, Ciprian Ilie, Francis Pott and Matthew Martin. Performances in recent months have included Liszt Fantasia and Fugue on ‘Ad nos ad salutarem undam’ at Truro Cathedral, Nielsen Commotio at Gloucester and St Albans Cathedrals and Reubke Sonata on the 94th Psalm at Blackburn and Chester Cathedrals, with recitals at Hull City Hall and Christ’s Chapel, Dulwich scheduled for the remainder of 2025.
Benjamin studied organ repertoire with Dame Gillian Weir and Stephen Farr and improvisation with David Briggs; he is a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists and also holds the College's Choral Conducting Diploma.
