Described by the Organ Magazine as ‘one of our finest young players’, Alexander Binns is the Director of Music at Derby Cathedral. At the Cathedral he is responsible for one of the most rapidly expanding Cathedral Music Departments in the country, including the Music in Schools programme (which works with over 900 children weekly in 18 schools each week), and for directing the Cathedral Choir for services, concerts, broadcasts, recordings, and tours. He recently received an award for great and valuable services to the community by the High Sheriff of Derbyshire for his work with the Cathedral Choir and the Music in Schools programme.
Prior to moving to Derby, Alexander was Assistant Director of Music at St Edmundsbury Cathedral in Suffolk for three years. In 2015, he graduated with distinction from the Royal Academy of Music, where he studied as an undergraduate and postgraduate. In January 2024, he was awarded Associateship of the Royal Academy of Music (ARAM), an award bestowed on former Academy students who have made a significant contribution to the musical landscape. Alongside his studies, Alexander held Organ Scholarships at Southwark Cathedral, the Royal Hospital Chelsea, and St George’s Chapel Windsor Castle, where he regularly accompanied and conducted the world-famous Chapel Choir and played for many members of the British Royal Family.
Alexander has performed at many venues including Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s Cathedral, Festival Hall, Wigmore Hall and abroad in the Netherlands, Iceland, France, Poland, Austria, Greece, Ireland, Italy and Germany. He has also performed on television and BBC Radio. As an orchestral player, Alexander has performed with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, has toured Europe with the European Union Youth Orchestra, and has worked under the batons of Marin Alsop, Gianandrea Noseda and Trevor Pinnock. He has premiered works by composers Diana Burrell, Simon Lindley, Alison Willis, Anthony Gray, Zoltán Gárdonyi, David Fawcett and Lloyd Coleman. Alexander has recently taken up the art of improvised silent film accompaniment, appearing on the opening night at the Derby Film Festival and at the Repton Festival.
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