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A multi-faceted and versatile musician, Neil Weston is well-known in the Washington area as a conductor, organist, pianist, continuo player, and educator. The Assistant Director of Choralis, he is also Organist at Falls Church Presbyterian Church and Principal Organist at Temple Sinai, Washington, DC. In addition to his work with these organizations, Neil is Institutional Sales Director at Jordan Kitt's Music.
A native of England, Neil was educated at the Universities of Oxford; London; and the Royal Academy of Music. His first professional musical position was Assistant Organist at Chelmsford Cathedral, the Cathedral of the second largest diocese in the Church of England. His experiences in this position included numerous live BBC broadcasts, several CD recordings, and European tours. He also gave the first public recital on the new organ at Chelmsford, the first new instrument to be built in an Anglican Cathedral in England in over 30 years.
At the end of 1999, he resigned his position in England, and moved to the United States, where he settled in the Washington, DC area. Since moving to the US, he has held positions as a full-time church music director in the Episcopal Diocese of Washington and the Catholic Diocese of Arlington, including St. Catherine of Siena in Great Falls, where he conducted that church's famed professional choir. In addition to his church work he was, for 8 years, associated with the Alexandria Choral Society, firstly as Assistant Conductor, and latterly, as Interim Artistic Director.
Neil has worked with several of Washington's most eminent musical ensembles, including the Washington Bach Consort; the Cathedral Choral Society; Cantate Chamber Singers; and the Washington Chamber Symphony. He has appeared as guest conductor with a number of choirs throughout the Washington area, and was a conductor of the famous annual Kennedy Center Messiah Sing-Along in 2002. A past prizewinner of the American Guild of Organists National Competition in Improvisation, he is well-known as a skilled exponent of the art of organ improvisation. As an organist, he has given recitals throughout the United States, Europe, and Russia, and his playing appears on more than a dozen commercial CD recordings.
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