"The organ loft can be a lonely place but there is room on the bench for two"

Husband and wife Fellows of the Royal College of Organists, Robin Jackson and Maureen McAllister specialize in presenting entertaining and interesting organ duet recitals. From their home in the West Country they have travelled to Cathedrals and Churches in all directions giving concerts which have been planned to meet the expectations of as wide an audience as possible. Although the duet repertoire is understandably much smaller than the solo repertoire, nontheless it spans the centuries and countries, certainly deserving a wider exposure. Indeed in recent years a number of distinguished composers on both sides of the Atlantic have made significant new contributions to the growing list of original music for two players at one console.

Programmes are planned carefully and can include transcriptions and solo items as well as original organ duet repertoire as required. Maureen McAllister and Robin Jackson have presented recitals on organs varying in size from a delightful single manual chamber organ for a local Arts Festival, right up to the magnificent 5-manual organ by Edmund Schulze in Doncastcr Parish Church.

Maureen McAllister studied at the Royal Academy of Music with Dr. Douglas Hopkins, at Westminster Cathedral with Nicolas Kynaston and in Siena with Fernando Germani, where she was awarded two Italian Government scholarships and two Diplome di Merito.
When living in London Maureen McAllister was a Deputy Organist at Westminster Cathedral, and Organist of the University of London Catholic Chaplaincy. Her solo recital career has included BBC Radio 3 and most Cathedrals and town Halls in the country.

Robin Jackson was a prize-winner at the Royal College of Music under Richard Latham. At seventeen he was organist at Christ Church, Lancaster Gate, London, and subsequently a Deputy Organist at St. George's Metropolitan Cathedral, Southwark. After five years as Assistant Director of Music at Sutton Valence School, he was appointed to take charge of student music making at the University of Bath in 1980, a post from which he retired in July 2005. He was a member of the Panel of Examiners in Music for Trinity College London (now Trinity-Guildhall) from 1983 to 2007.

Previous engagements include St. Paul's Cathedral; York Minster; Lincoln Minster; St. Patrick's Cathedral Dublin; St. Giles's Cathedral, Edinburgh; Canterbury Cathedral; Winchester Cathedral; Chester Cathedral; Leicester Cathedral; Southwell Minster; St. David's Hall, Cardiff (Welsh Prom Season), The Fairfield Halls, Croydon; The Parr Hall, Warrington; The Caird Hall, Dundee; Hull City Hall; Marlborough College.

Our 2011 programme is as follows:

Tuesday, February 15^th: 7.30pm Solihull School
Saturday, April 16^th: 7.30pm All Saints' Huntingdon
Monday, May 9^th: 12.40pm Christ Church, Woking
Thursday, June 9^th: 1.10pm Chester Cathedral
Tuesday, July 19^th: 1.10pm Bath Abbey
Wednesday, July 29^th: 1.10pm Truro Methodist Church
Monday, August 1^st: 1.10pm St. Andrew's Hall, Norwich
Wednesday, August 3^rd: 7.30pm Swaffham Parish Church
Thursday, August 4^th: 7.30pm St. Thomas, Earlham Rd, Norwich
Sunday, August 7^th: 3.00pm Gillingham Methodist Church
Wednesday, November 2^nd: 12.30pm Hull City Hall
Thursday, November 3^rd: 1.15pm Ripon Cathedral

Maureen McAllister and Robin Jackson will be pleased to send details of their duet repertoire which presently comprises some 56 original compositions (some especially composed for them) plus 25 arrangements and transcriptions.

PUBLICATIONS

Maureen McAllister and Robin Jackson publish some 27 organ duets, including original items by Colin Mawby and Peter Lea-Cox, editions of the Sonatas by Merkel and Hepworth, Marches by Ron Goodwin and Julius Fucik, and Renaissance Dances by Susato, Gervaise, Praetorius etc.

CONTACT DETAILS

Maureen McAllister and Robin Jackson,
10, The Cleeve,
CORSHAM,
Wiltshire, SN13 9JG

Telephone: 01249 713809
Mobile:07990 973186
e-mail: robin.jackson77@virgin.net