Malcolm Archer


Malcolm Archer is an English composer, conductor and organist. He combines this work with a recital career. Archer was formerly Organist and Director of Music at Wells and St Paul's Cathedrals and Director of Chapel Music at Winchester College. He married Alison in 1994, and they have a son and a daughter.

Education and early career

Malcolm Archer was educated at King Edward VII School, Lytham before studying at the Royal College of Music. He was later organ scholar at Jesus College, Cambridge. His organ teachers include Ralph Downes, Gillian Weir, and Nicolas Kynaston and he studied composition with Herbert Sumsion and Alan Ridout.

Later career

First posts

Malcolm Archer's first posts were at Norwich Cathedral as Assistant Organist, and Bristol Cathedral leaving to spend time living and working in the US.

Wells Cathedral (1996–2004)

Archer was appointed Organist and Master of the Choristers at Wells Cathedral in 1996 where he directed and trained the Cathedral choir for its daily services in the Cathedral, as well as being the Musical Director for Wells Cathedral Oratorio Society. In April 2000 he and choir members participated in a tour back to North American, which included concerts in Ottawa, Ontario; Albany, New York; Richmond, Virginia; Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Washington, DC; Lancaster, Ohio; Chicago, Illinois; St. Paul, Minnesota; Chattanooga, Tennessee and Augusta, Georgia. He has made several recordings with the choir to critical acclaim, recording with the labels Hyperion and Lammas.

St Paul's Cathedral (2004–2007)

Malcolm Archer took over as organist and Director of Music at St Paul's from John Scott in 2004. He directed the choir for several important state services, including the service to celebrate the 80th birthday of HM the Queen, for which he composed a special anthem.

Winchester College (2007–2018)

In August 2007 he took up a position as Director of Chapel Music and Organist at Winchester College, where he was in charge of the Winchester College Chapel Choir and the College Quiristers as well as teaching composition and the organ. Important recordings with the choir include Stanford's choral music, Britten's A Ceremony of Carols, Three Wings and Mozart's Requiem, accompanied by the London Mozart Players. Malcolm Archer moved from Winchester College in 2018 to pursue his career as a choral and orchestral conductor and composer. Asked in a recent interview about his College choir, he commented that: “They are equally as good as any of the choirs I’ve worked with, and one of the great privileges for me is to be able to work with talented young musicians and see them achieve fantastic standards of choral singing. Most of our older boys in the choir, our altos, tenors and basses, are in the sixth form and a good number of them will go on to choral scholarships at Oxford and Cambridge, in choirs such as King’s College Cambridge, St John’s College Cambridge and the fine Oxford choirs’’.

Compositions

'Malcolm Archer's talent for writing for voices is legendary. His are marvellously singable melodies with a fine sense of rhythm and an organ part which really helps the singers.' He has 'a fine ear for choral sonority, an admirable sensitivity to words, and a genuine and distinctive melodic voice. His harmonic language is accessible and traditional but it is never bland. Above all, I think, his music conveys a genuine atmosphere and uplifts the listener.'
Archer's major works include ‘Requiem’, ‘Vespers’, ‘Three Psalms of David’, ‘The Coming of the Kingdom’, the musical, ‘Walter and the Pigeons’, the one-act opera, ‘George and the Dragon’, ‘Sinfonietta’ for orchestra, ‘Concerto for Trumpet and Strings’ and ‘Sonata for Cello and Piano’.
He has over 250 published compositions, and he is published by Oxford University Press and RSCM Publications amongst other companies. His choral works include: