Thomas Trotter

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Born in Birkenhead in 1957, he was a pupil at Malvern College and studied music at Cambridge University where he was organ scholar at King's College. He also studied under Marie-Claire Alain, winning the Prix de Virtuosité in her class. He won first prize in the interpretation competition at the St Albans International Organ Festival in 1979 and made his debut in the Royal Festival Hall the following year. He was appointed to the position of Birmingham City Organist in 1983, succeeding Sir George Thalben-Ball. Trotter also studied the violin.

In Birmingham he plays regularly in the city's Symphony Hall and Town Hall, usually including contemporary compositions in his recitals. He is also noted for playing transcriptions of orchestral music, which is a tradition at St Margaret's, Westminster, where he is organist.

Trotter has performed and been recorded around the world, and is much sought-after as a soloist in orchestral partnerships. He has performed with conductors Sir Simon Rattle, Bernard Haitink, Riccardo Chailly and Sir Charles Mackerras, as joint soloist with performers including Evelyn Glennie, and has given recitals in the Berlin Philharmonie, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Musikverein, Vienna and Konzerthaus, Vienna and London’s Royal Festival Hall; and has given the commissioning recital on new or restored organs in places such as Cleveland’s Severance Hall (Ohio), Princeton University Chapel (New Jersey), the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, St David's Hall, Cardiff, and most recently, the Royal Albert Hall in London, following the extensive refurbishment of the organ by Mander Organs completed in 2005.

Trotter has also been invited to perform on major historic instruments such as those at St. Ouen in Rouen, St. Bavo’s in Haarlem (Netherlands), Weingarten Abbey in Germany and Woolsey Hall at Yale University and he appears at the festivals of Salzburg, Berlin, Vienna, Edinburgh and London’s BBC Proms.

In 2020, he was awarded The Queen's Medal for Music, awarded annually to an individual or group of musicians who had a major influence on the musical life of the United Kingdom.