What prompted you to start playing the organ and where did you find lessons?
I’ve played piano since I was seven but came to church music and organ playing much later. I read Music Education at university, which included piano studies for two years. I joined the choir at St Peter’s Cathedral, Adelaide and, when piano studies finished, I decided to try the organ. I learned with the assistant organist, Mark Joyner, and soon became one of the cathedral organ scholars. Immediately I started, I discovered my love for playing the organ!
Did you know other young organists in those early years? If so, what was the gender balance?
While I was Organ Scholar at the cathedral I had two fellow organ scholars, both male. I wasn’t aware of any other young organists in Adelaide, male or female.
Were you surprised at this lack, especially the lack of women?
When I started playing, I was still relatively new to church music and found it quite a niche interest, so I wasn’t surprised to find only a few young organists around. However, I was surprised at the age gap between us organ scholars and the ‘next generation’ up from us. There did not seem to be many organists in their late 20s to early 40s in Adelaide, but the music scene is smaller there than in other capital cities in Australia.
What prompted you to move to the UK?
My family originally came from England, and I always felt a resonance with the UK when I visited. I went on two UK tours with St Peter’s Cathedral choir, and this introduction to the English Anglican choral tradition was mesmerising. I loved the opportunity to sing, play and conduct in these magnificent buildings, and wanted to do more of it! The musical opportunities for organists in Australia are much more limited than in the UK - to get to the nearest Anglican cathedral from Adelaide is an 8-hour drive. And at St Peter’s Cathedral there are no full-time jobs for musicians. Some of the cathedrals in the country offer full time jobs, but this does not compare to the UK where cathedrals have up to three full time musicians.
At what stage did you decide to make music your career?
That’s a good question as I don’t think I consciously made the decision. My first job in the UK was organ scholar, resident house tutor, and music teacher at a boarding school. Discovering that classroom music teaching was not my passion, I worked hard on my organ playing and successfully auditioned for the post of John Sayer Organ Scholar at Ripon Cathedral. Since then, I couldn’t imagine working outside of cathedral music and I feel very fortunate to be able to make music my career.
What are the pros and cons of working in cathedral music?
I have loved being immersed in the musical world in the UK. I have had some fantastic masterclasses with world class teachers, especially as this experience is something harder to find in Australia, particularly in Adelaide.
Some days I can spend up to 7 hours practising. (One ‘con’ is the winter temperature - cathedrals in winter feel very cold for an Australian!)
I enjoy the varied work - organ playing, conducting and administrative tasks. When I was at Ripon Cathedral I organised the choir’s first international tour in over 10 years, travelling to Germany in July 2019. This gave me great experience in organisation and planning, which was useful when helping to plan the most recent Wakefield Cathedral choir tour to Norwich.
At Lincoln Cathedral I loved working with the Cathedral Consort, the adult voluntary choir. This auditioned choir of around 35 singers led the services when the cathedral choir was absent, such as evening Eucharists on feast days. Working with this group of singers really honed my conducting and rehearsal techniques, and a particular highlight was rehearsing and conducting Duruflé’s Requiem on several occasions, including a particularly emotional performance after the COVID-19 lockdowns.
Another ‘con’ is the working hours, as these make it difficult to maintain relationships with those outside church music. During my time at Lincoln my day off was a Wednesday, making weekend socialising almost impossible. On the other hand, the social scene in a cathedral choir is generally excellent, and there is always socialising after rehearsals and services.
Sometimes the pressure of performing for high profile services and concerts can be difficult. You need to make sure that you are fully prepared for these events, as well as keeping up with the day-to-day aspects of the job, such as playing at a high standard for mid-week evensongs. I try to plan my practice well in advance so that I am well prepared and have time to work through any difficulties.
Is it harder for a woman than a man to work in a cathedral? And is it getting easier for a woman to work as a cathedral organist?
I have not found that my gender has had any impact on the way I am treated. On the other hand, I know of organists of both genders struggling in less supportive working environments than I’ve experienced. I think this just reflects the culture of different workplaces, as my colleagues have been excellent to work with.
I believe it is important for children to have both male and female role models in church music. In Adelaide I had a female conductor and organist, so I never thought of it as something that I couldn’t do. I have also had great female role models in the UK, particularly a few Precentors I have worked with.
While I have had positive experiences, I have often been the only woman at the Assistant Cathedral Organists conferences, so clearly there is something holding women back. Perhaps now that most cathedrals include both boys and girls as choristers, we can start to bridge the gap. I hope that, with more visibility of women in cathedral music jobs, young female organists will feel empowered to enter the career with confidence.
How did you discover SWO and why did you join?
I remember seeing posts on social media in SWO’s early days and I identified with its ethos. I love the community of SWO members and have gained a lot through being part of SWO.
Until she stood down recently, Helene Albrecht and you led the SWO Directory of Women Composers research team since 2024, resulting in our online resource of women composers of organ and choral music. Thank you for continuing with the work – why is it so important for you?
I love discovering new works by women composers and talking to contemporary composers about their work. I have had wonderfully supportive colleagues who are also passionate about exploring music from diverse composers, so I have been able to introduce choirs and congregations to different music.
Working on the Directory helped me get through my time furloughed during COVID-19. Through researching women composers I discovered the worlds of Leonora d’Este, a nun from 16th century Italy. Her music was freely available online in part books, so I learned how to transcribe music and I made modern scores of these superb pieces, which have received performances in Lincoln and Wakefield.
Could you share some of your plans and dreams for the future?
I am really enjoying my time at Wakefield Cathedral, as it gives me a great opportunity to learn more repertoire and improve my playing in a very supportive setting. In the future I would love to do more conducting, particularly working with choristers, while keeping up my organ playing. I would be interested in becoming an Assistant Director of Music role at a bigger cathedral, or a Director of Music at a smaller cathedral.
I want our Directory of Women Composers to keep growing. Currently we have 261 composers from 40 different countries represented in our work, but the list of composers still to be researched is 322 and always growing.
I hope that more women will enter cathedral music, helping to make the career more visible to women. Working in cathedral music is rewarding and endlessly fascinating; I highly recommend it!
Alana, your courage, hard work and success are inspiring, and we wish you well with all your hopes for the future. Thank you, too, for the great work you and Helene have done on the SWO Directory, and we look forward to your collaboration with Marsha Burke, the new co-leader of SWO Directory.
Alana Brook is Assistant Director of Music at Wakefield Cathedral, where she is the principal accompanist for the Cathedral Choir as well as directing the youth choir and the junior choir, Byrd Song. She is a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists, winning the Turpin/Durrant prize in 2021. She has given recitals at St David’s Cathedral, Ripon Cathedral, Lincoln Cathedral, and at the 2022 Three Choirs Festival in Hereford.
Comments