Life as Master of the Music
Posted on 27th March 2025 at 17:49
This month, we hear from Stuart Nicholson, Master of the Music at the world-renowned Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin, Ireland. He tells us about his route into music, and explains just what his role entails on a day to day basis.
Read on to learn about the thrills and challenges of Stuart’s job, and what it’s like to work in such a setting. We also have information about a special afternoon of music-making at the cathedral this spring, where children can sing alongside the choir.
Throughout my young life all I ever wanted to be was a train driver. The fact that my parents sent me to the local CofE comprehensive school that sat alongside the main line between London and Norwich – giving me ample opportunity to stare wistfully at the trains dashing back and forth during breaktimes, and more often than not lessons too – only strengthened that resolve.
Thankfully for me, the school’s other draw was, in addition to a much sought-after indoor heated swimming pool and extensive sports grounds, a vibrant and well-respected music department. Sadly, I never showed much, if any, prowess in either the pool or sports field. In fact, to quote my constantly exasperated PE teacher, “this student would have to improve a great deal to reach even a mediocre level in this subject”. So music it was.
My musical journey
There was always plenty of it at home whether it was listening to Terry Wogan on BBC Radio 2 of a morn or my parents’ eclectic assortment of LPs over Sunday lunch, which ranged from James Last’s greatest hits, to the Carpenters and the much maligned (unfairly in my view) "Hooked on Classics" series. The latter did an awful lot to mould my musical tastes for better or for worse.
My grandparents on my father’s side were both musical: Nan played the piano, and my grandfather, who alas I never got to meet, played the violin. As for my parents, my mother still jokes that she never played anything other than the cassette recorder, while my father learnt the piano for a short period before giving it up in favour of an apprenticeship, but sang in his local church choir as a boy and later as a man. When his choirmaster moved on to another parish, in the absence of anyone else willing to keep the choir going, my father volunteered his services until they found someone “more qualified”. As is often the way in churches, that temporary solution lasted 12 years, but in that time and despite no formal training himself, he instilled in countless children, including myself, a love of music which most of us still enjoy and many of us followed as a career path in one form or another.
Never much of a singer myself, I discovered I had more of a talent for accompanying instead, firstly on the piano and then progressing on to the organ. It wasn’t long before I left behind those notions of being a train driver, and if you’ve seen me drive then you’ll probably agree it was for the best. Having studied for a number of years with the organist of our neighbouring parish church, I got a place to study for four years at the Royal College of Music in London. It was at that point I began my cathedral journey, firstly in Saint Paul’s Cathedral before moving to the cathedrals of Edinburgh and Birmingham and then, almost 15 years to the date of writing this, to the National Cathedral and Collegiate Church of Saint Patrick, Dublin, as Master of the Music.
What is a Master of the Music?
The thing about being a Master of the Music is that any time anyone asks what I do for a living, my answer is without exception the very last one they were expecting. Most haven’t a clue what one is or what one does.
So what exactly does a Master of the Music do? Those of you who have witnessed me in action have probably only ever done so from the rear and seen me standing between the choir stalls waving my hands like some whirling dervish. As far as most of the choristers are concerned, that’s about it.
Well for the most part, my job is no different to that of my predecessors – the priority is the training of the choristers. Over the last 14 years I’ve seen many of them go through the choir; thankfully I’ve not yet been here long enough to start training offspring of those choristers but I fear it won’t be long. I still get a thrill witnessing their progression from shy probationer to anything but a few years later, even if some of that newly-found confidence becomes a little more problematic for their parents and teachers. Those cassocks only make them appear angelic; we can’t be held responsible for what happens once they’re out of them.
Jobs like this come up rarely, and those lucky enough to secure one of the good ones are likely to hold on to them for dear life until retirement beckons. So when an opportunity arises you go where the work is, hence why organists are reasonably well travelled by the time we settle. It certainly helps to have an understanding partner willing to up sticks and start again in a strange city, if not country.
Life at Saint Patrick’s
The Saint Patrick's choir at their namesake's cathedral in New York
Saint Patrick’s has so much going for it: the building, the acoustic, the organ and the city and all that lies within are all major pluses. More importantly though, the music department is well supported by the cathedral and community, and very well-funded too thanks to the cathedral’s position as one of Ireland’s great tourist attractions. In addition to around 450 choral services per year there’s plenty of scope for music-making, including regular concerts, annual performances of major works including Bach’s Saint John Passion, broadcasts including our first with the BBC in nearly 20 years this Saint Patrick’s Day, recordings, and the all-important tours.
Last year was a big one for us; it marked our first trip to the US, and to say the choristers were excited would be a massive understatement. We took 12 of the boy choristers – sadly the others were too young for a transatlantic singing trip – and the graduating years of both the girl choristers and schola. All of those singing with us began their time in the choir mid-lockdown, and after such a shaky start the cathedral was determined to make sure they finished with style.
We had 18 children in all, plus two organists and four supporting staff for a 10,000km round trip: four days, three nights, two evensongs including one in the largest cathedral in the world, and a concert in our namesake’s cathedral on Fifth Avenue. A trip of a lifetime and the choristers are still talking about it……
The job is not without its challenges and frustrations of course… voices breaking when you least expect, for example! The rest I’ll save for my memoirs just in case. But by far the biggest challenge of recent years was the pandemic, the effects of which even now we’re still dealing with. We were indeed fortunate to get a great deal of support, encouragement and some most timely and welcome guidance from one of Ireland’s top epidemiologists (who just happened to also be the robes mistress of Dublin’s Palestrina choir) and were able to navigate the worst of the pandemic safely.
The future isn't without its own challenges and complications; for instance, recruitment is becoming increasingly difficult, but we’ve a great team and I know that as always we’ll meet these challenges head on and continue to go from strength to strength.
Take part
The choir at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral is inviting children in 1st-3rd class to take part in a special afternoon of music-making on Tuesday 1 April 2025. For more information and to register, visit their website at www.stpatrickscathedral.ie/sing
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