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OUR COMPOSERS
John Bertalot
John Bertalot (b. 1931) has specialized in organ and choral music throughout his career. He won the major organ scholarship to the Royal College of Music, London, and organ scholarships to Oxford and Cambridge Universities, where he studied, respectively, with Dr. Harold Darke, Dr. Egon Wellesz and Dr. Boris Ord.
His first post was at St. Matthew's Church, Northampton. At that time St. Matthew's was one of the leading musical churches in England. Benjamin Britten composed Rejoice in the Lamb for its choir, and the church enjoyed a succession of organists who were later appointed to cathedrals.
He was for 18 years, director of music of Blackburn Cathedral, and was also a Senior Lecturer at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. He held appointments in Princeton, NJ where he was Adjunct Associate Professor at Rider University and directed music at Trinity Episcopal Church.
He has led workshops for choral directors not only throughout the US and Great Britain but also in South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Canada. He is now resident in England as a Special Tutor and Adviser to the Royal School of Church Music, and is also a Specialist Adjudicator for the British Federation of Festivals.
His compositions are published by over a dozen publishing houses on both sides of the Atlantic and he has recently completed commissions for the choirs of Blackburn Cathedral, Manchester Cathedral and Fettes College, Edinburgh. He is in much demand as a choral conductor, adjudicator and lecturer.