Alex has loved the sound of choral music from a young age. Through her choral singing she was introduced to the organ and was fortunate to start taking lessons at the age of eleven. This sparked her passion for organ music which she combines with her love for choir.

Alex enjoys playing different organs, and has played at St John's Hyde Park Church (Nicholson), Edington Priory Church (Harrison), and her school organ.

Mel retired after a 41 year career in audio and broadcast engineering and now works as a freelance player based in NW England as well as being resident organist in one Anglican and one RC Parish. She took up the organ in the 1960s with an organ scholarship at the Darlington Grammar School studying initially with Hector C Parr and later with Conrad Eden at Durham Cathedral. She focusses primarily on service playing, but gives the occasional recital to forgiving audiences. She is secretary of her local organists’ association and also actively involved with social media for BIOS. www.phmusic.co.uk/musicbakgnd1.html

Facebook: Mel.Plumley Twitter: @Organist55

Rosemary Ponnekanti is an assistant organist at Christ Church Cathedral in Newcastle, NSW, Australia. With a B.Mus.A and Performance Diploma in double bass, she has played professionally in orchestras around Australia, and served as church organist in Tacoma, Washington, USA where she directed a handbell choir and instrumentalists. Rosemary also composes, teaches and plays flute and piano, and has had a successful career in festival direction and arts management.

After a Bachelor of Music from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and a Masters in piano performance, a European Monteverdi tour led to the harpsichord. A church offered Theodoira an organist position but she had to learn the pedals. She became their organist for 16 years. she also taught music at Glendale College for 20 years.

Hilary is Assistant Organist and Director of the Girls’ Choir at Chelmsford Cathedral. A native of Canada, Hilary studied at McGill University, Montreal, where she was also Assistant Organist at Christ Church Cathedral. In 2011 she moved to England, and has since worked as organist at Southwell Minster, All Saints’ Church, Northampton, and Lincoln Cathedral. Outside her work at Chelmsford Cathedral, Hilary is an accompanist, singer, teacher, recitalist, and choral conductor.

Justina is a Lithuanian junior student based in London, Greenwich. She discovered her passion for the organ at the age 15 and took up the organ at the age of 16 with Prof. Gerard Brooks. She is a Junior student with the RCO and is passionate about organ music of all centuries. In November 2018 she took the ABRSM Grade 5 exam and gained a Distinction. She is a regular attendee of the RCO Summer School. She attends additional RCO courses and masterclasses, and is now a sixth form student, studying music, conducting and art. Sometimes she plays hymns for services on Sundays. She sings with the “Docklands Singers” chorus and rings the bell in St. Alfege Church tower (Greenwich). She is now preparing for ABRSM Grade 7 or 8, and her dream is to continue organ studies at the Royal Academy of Music.

Organist and composer Christa Rakich teaches organ and clavichord at Oberlin Conservatory in Ohio, USA. An ardent supporter of women performers and composers, her CD recordings include Deferred Voices: Organ Music by Women (Mendelssohn, Smyth, Amy Beach, Emma Lou Diemer, Demessieux, and others), Transcriptions from St. Justin’s (Clara Schumann), and Tribute to Yuko Hayashi (Cécile Chaminade). Her programming routinely features works by women. Her organ compositions are primarily hymn-based, and include Hommages à Bach, Pachelbel, Gershwin, William Walton, Henry Mancini, and others. They may be downloaded for free from IMSLP.

www.christarakich.com

Linda Raney is Music Director/Organist at First Presbyterian Church in Santa Fe, NM USA, where she directs the adult choir and handbells, plays for services and administrates a weekly Friday night recital series. She received a doctorate in Organ Performance from Indiana University and has a passion for early music. She also conducts the Santa Fe Women's Ensemble, a group of auditioned 16 voices. She also has three organ students and organizes the annual Santa Fe Summer Organ Academy.

Dianne Rechel comes from West Hartford, Connecticut, USA. She is a graduate of Hartt College of Music. Manhattan's Mannes School of Music, Aspen Summer Music Festival, Manhattan School of Music and Westminster Choir College. She works as a piano teacher and church organist but her day job is a full-time real estate agent dedicated to helping people with property sales and rentals all over Connecticut. She loves travel, cooking, lecturing on films, speaking French and German and dark chocolate.

Ghislaine is a composer, teacher, and organist, and co-founder and former co-chair of the Society of Women Organists. Her choral and organ pieces are published by Encore Publications, Oxford University Press, Stainer & Bell, and The Royal School of Church Music, and have been broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 by BBC Singers. Formerly an organ scholar of Christ Church, Oxford, Ghislaine is a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists, receiving the Limpus, Shinn and Durrant prizes, and the Coventry Cathedral Recital Award. She is a trustee of the Royal College of Organists, a trustee of Opus Anglicanum, and a Yeoman of the Worshipful Company of Musicians.

Louise Reid studied at Lincoln College, Oxford and the Royal Academy of Music and held the organ scholarship at Westminster Abbey. She has worked in several Cathedrals and was the founder Director of the Girls’ Choirs in both Guildford and Ely Cathedrals. Until recently she was the Director of Chapel Music at St John’s College, Durham and in 2025 takes up a similar post at St Edmund’s College, Cambridge. She holds honorary awards from both the RAM and the RSCM and is a fellow of the RCO.

Miriam Reveley is currently in Year 11, and is Ely Cathedral’s Sixth Form Organ Scholar-elect. After starting her musical education as a violinist, she became head chorister at her parish church under composer Paul Edwards. In 2016, she joined Ely Cathedral Choir and began piano and organ lessons. She currently studies with Sarah MacDonald. As a singer, Miriam has performed live on Radio 3 and as a soloist on CD recordings. In 2018, she completed work experience at St Catharine’s, St John’s, Selwyn and Pembroke Colleges in Cambridge, which inspired her to pursue a career as an organist.