The Cathedral Select Vestry of Saint Fin Barre’s Cathedral, Cork is delighted to announce the appointment of Robbie Carroll as Assistant Director of Music. He will take up the post in September taking over from current Assistant Director Phoebe Chow who leaves in July to take up a post in England.  He will also be working on the Diocesan Church Music Scheme which works with primary and secondary schools and parishes across the United Dioceses of Cork, Cloyne and Ross.

Robbie Carroll is a native of Galway, and his earliest musical training began as organ scholar of Galway Cathedral with Ray O’Donnell. He then studied on the BMus degree at DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama, graduating in 2017 with a First-Class Honours in organ performance. His organ tutors while studying included the late Una Russell, Colm Carey, Siobhán Kilkelly and Simon Harden. During this time, he was also the organ scholar of St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral, working with Titular Organist Prof. Gerard Gillen, and Director of the ‘Palestrina Choir’ of boys and men, Blánaid Murphy. With the choir, Robbie has performed in venues both home and abroad, and has accompanied the choir on tours to the USA, Brussels and Rome. He has also accompanied the choir for a CD recording.

Upon completion of his Bachelor degree, Robbie pursued further studies in Germany. He is currently in his final semester of the ‘Organ-Solo’ Master, in the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz, Cologne. He now studies with Prof. Winfried Bönig, organist of Cologne Cathedral. He is also the current Orgelstipendiat, or organ scholar, of the church of St. Peter und Paul, Ratingen, where he studies improvisation with Ansgar Wallenhorst.

Robbie has won multiple prizes in the ESB Feis Ceoil, and has also competed in the Northern Ireland International Organ competition. He was the first ever organist to compete in the ‘Freemasons Young Musician of the Year’, and was the 2016 winner of the Brennan Prize, for ‘the most promising musician in the competition’.

Robbie has given solo recitals in Ireland, the UK and Germany, and has also performed multiple times as concerto soloist. He has participated in masterclasses with Dr John Kitchen, Dame Gillian Weir, Sophie-Véronique Cauchefer-Choplin, Eric Lebrun, and Prof. Henry Fairs, among others. He also holds an Associate Diploma in piano performance, and is an Associate of the Royal College of Organists.

Robbie Carroll