Artist Biography

Peter Barley is Organist and Choirmaster of St Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick. He is also a member of staff at the Limerick School of Music, where he teaches piano and organ and is a staff accompanist.

Peter was previously Organist and Master of the Choristers at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin. Peter began his career in London, where he was Director of Music at St Marylebone Church. He has also served as Director of the Edington Festival and as Chair of RSCM Ireland.

The foundations for his interest in choral and organ music were laid through studies at King’s College, Cambridge (where he was an organ scholar) and as a postgraduate student at the Royal Academy of Music, London. His organ teachers during this time were the late Nicolas Kynaston, the late Peter Hurford and the late Nicholas Danby.

As an organist, Peter has played at many UK venues including St Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey and the Bridgewater Hall. He has performed widely in Ireland, and whilst living and working in Canada he played in all the regular ‘noon-hour’ organ recital series in Toronto. He made his concert debut in London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall in 1994. Peter has recently given solo recitals in St Canice’s Cathedral, Kilkenny, the Church of the Assumption, Tullamore, St Michael’s Church, Dun Laoghaire, Christ Church Bristol, the Edington Festival and the Queen’s College, Oxford. Concerto performances in the past few seasons include Poulenc’s Organ Concerto with the RTE Concert Orchestra in St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin and organ concertos by Handel and Rheinberger in a concert in Galway Cathedral. Last month he performed Saint-Saens Organ Symphony with the University of Limerick Orchestra.

Peter is particularly pleased to be playing in two major Irish organ festivals this year: here and at Pipeworks in Dublin.