Iestyn Evans

Iestyn Evans is an organist and choral conductor who has performed internationally on the organ. He has made several recordings as director of the Schola Cantorum of the Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School, where he has been active for more than two decades. Evans was born in 1977 in Boncath Dyfed, Wales. He served as an organ scholar at St. Davids Cathedral in far western Wales, beginning at age 12 or 13, before attending Queen's College, Oxford, where he studied music and was once again an organ scholar -- a musician who performs at services in exchange for tuition reduction. Evans went on to study with David Titterington at the Royal College of Music, holding further organ scholar positions at Westminster Cathedral and then Westminster Abbey. For seven years, he was organist at St. Etheldreda's Catholic Church, Ely Place, London, where he also directed the choir. Later, he conducted the Hill Singers Chamber Choir in southwest London's Wimbledon district. In 2001, Evans joined the staff at the Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School, a leading London Catholic day school, becoming an assistant director and then director of music. He also serves as the music director at St. James's, Spanish Place, one of London's major Catholic churches, and of St. Botolph without Bishopsgate in London, an Anglican institution. Evans has performed widely as an organist beyond his regular church and school duties. He has appeared at Chartres Cathedral, the Stephansdom in Vienna, and the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory, among other venues. One of his more unusual performances was a 24-hour Bach marathon, undertaken to raise money for a U.S. tour by the Schola Cantorum of the Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School. With that group, he has made seven recordings, including two for the major label Aparté, In Paradisum (2020) and Great Is the Lord (2021). He has also recorded a solo organ album.
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