DIRECTOR OF MUSIC & TEAM
Director of Music
TImothy Parsons
Timothy Parsons took up the position of Director of Music at Wells Cathedral in September 2024, and is also Music Director of the Wells Cathedral Oratorio Society. He has held posts at the cathedrals of Hereford, Winchester, Exeter, and most recently St Edmundsbury, where he was Director of Music from 2021 to 2024. During his time there, the choir toured to France and Germany, broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 and released a recording, A Year at St Edmundsbury, with the Regent label.
Timothy was a chorister at Guildford Cathedral and organ scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge, graduating with a starred double first in Music in 2014. Whilst at Cambridge he was also organ scholar for King’s Voices, the mixed-voice choir of King’s College Chapel. In 2018 he recorded a disc of organ music at Exeter for Regent Records’ English Cathedral Series, which was praised for its ‘vigour, optimism and supreme self confidence’ (MusicWeb International) and ‘virtuoso command of the organ’ (Organists’ Review).
Assistant Director of Music
Carolyn Craig, MMA FRCO
Carolyn Craig, FRCO MMA, is the Assistant Director of Music at Wells Cathedral, a position she took up in April 2024, having been Organ Scholar at Westminster Abbey since 2023.
Originally from Knoxville, Tennessee, she earned her organ performance degrees in the United States (BM Indiana University ’18, MM Yale University ’21, MMA Yale University ’22) and first worked in the United Kingdom as organ scholar at Truro Cathedral between her degrees, in 2018/2019. Following graduation from Yale University, she became organ scholar of Westminster Cathedral and then of Westminster Abbey. Recent prizes include the Limpus/Shinn/Durrant and Dr F J Read Prizes in the 2022/2023 FRCO examinations, the 2nd Prize and the Prize for the Interpretation of Tariverdiev’s Works in the 2021 Mikael Tariverdiev International Organ Competition, and Yale’s Mary Baker Prize in Organ Accompaniment for her work with the Yale Schola Cantorum under the direction of David Hill.
Carolyn performs internationally and has been featured on a number of radio programmes, including the American nationally broadcast programme Pipedreams. She has been featured at national conventions of the American Guild of Organists as a performer and speaker, the latter as co-founder of amplifyfemalecomposers.org and as a contributor to the inclusive church music planning resource at greathostcomposers.org. To learn more, visit carolyncraigmusician.com.
Organ Scholar
Alastair Stone
Alastair is a accompanist and recitalist. He moved to Wells from Ripon after graduating from Oxford University. He read Music at Pembroke College, and was organ scholar concurrently at both Pembroke and Harris Manchester College.