ACTING DIRECTOR OF MUSIC
alexander hamilton, Ma arco
Alexander Hamilton is Acting Director of Music at Wells Cathedral, a position he took up in December 2022, having been Assistant Director of Music since 2020. In this role, Alexander oversees all aspects of the Cathedral’s musical life. He is the principal director of Wells Cathedral Choir, and is responsible for the training and care of the Choristers. Alexander is also Artistic Director of Cathedral Commissions and Music Director of Wells Cathedral Oratorio Society. Recent and forthcoming performances as a conductor include Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, Mass in B minor, and St John Passion, Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius, Fauré’s Requiem, Handel’s Coronation Anthems and Messiah, and John Rutter’s Gloria, Magnificat, and Requiem. In May 2023, he curated the Sound of Wells Festival, which featured over 300 musicians from across the community; the Festival will return in May 2024.
Prior to taking up his appointments in Wells, Alexander held organ scholarships at Westminster Abbey, Trinity College, Cambridge, and St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle. He has studied the organ with Henry Fairs, Ann Elise Smoot, Colin Walsh, and Stephen Farr. Alexander read Music as Organ Scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge, where he accompanied the choir in its schedule of services, concerts and tours. He has appeared as both accompanist and soloist on a number of critically-acclaimed recordings, including discs of music by Stanford, Finzi, Vaughan Williams, Cecilia McDowall, and Owain Park, and also features on a recent album by the internationally-renowned vocal ensemble Voces8.
Alexander won First Prize in the Northern Ireland International Organ Competition 2015. Recent engagements have included a Bach concert at the St Albans International Organ Festival, and recitals at the London Organ Day, King’s College, Cambridge, St Paul’s Cathedral, St John’s Smith Square, and Westminster Abbey. During 2016–2017, he was Artistic Director of Bach at Trinity, a year-long recital series surveying the complete organ works of Bach. He has tutored for Creative Oundle for Organists courses, and is the principal organ teacher at Wells Cathedral School.
assistant DIRECTOR OF MUSIC (as of april 2024)
carolyn craig, mma Frco
Carolyn Craig has been appointed as Assistant Director of Music at Wells Cathedral from April 2024.
Carolyn Craig is currently Organ Scholar of Westminster Abbey, a position she has held since September 2023. Originally from Knoxville, Tennessee, and with degrees from Indiana and Yale Universities, Carolyn is a former organ scholar at both Truro Cathedral and Westminster Cathedral and now maintains a busy schedule of international tours, broadcasts and teaching alongside her duties at Westminster Abbey. She has also recently been appointed as a Junior Fellow of Royal Birmingham Conservatoire from January 2024.
As Assistant Director of Music, Carolyn will be the principal organist for Cathedral services, will play a key part in the training of the Choristers, and will direct Wells Cathedral Chamber Choir.