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MALCOLM PEARCE BMus, FRCO, ARCM, Cert EdBorn and raised in Bournemouth, Malcolm received his first significant musical education as a Quirister at Winchester College. Following a music scholarship at King’s College, Taunton he took the B Mus course at the Royal College of Music in conjunction with King’s College London, studying organ with Richard Latham and composition with Stephen Dodgson. In his final year he won the Walford Davies prize, the college’s premier award for organ performance. During this time he was also involved as chorus master during the formative years of Gli Amici Della Musica in his home town of Bournemouth. This unique self-governing youth choir and orchestra, which flourished for thirty years, gave many aspiring young musicians opportunities in directing and managing concerts. His career in teaching took him in 1981 to Magdalen College School Oxford as Director of Music, a post he held for 26 years during which he nurtured the talents of many who have gone on to make significant contributions in a wide range of musical fields. Malcolm has directed a number of choirs in the Oxford area, including Choir of Oxford University Press, from which he retired as Conductor at the end of 2019; however, he continues to mentor the vocal ensemble Monday’s Madrigals. He was harpsichordist with the trio Musical Banquet, whose novel presentation of early music organised around a gastronomic theme entertained audiences in over a 100 performances up and down the country between 2007 and 2019. He also appears as pianist with the New Oxford Trio and the Pavlova Wind Quintet, and as continuo and keyboard player with Oxford Sinfonia and Oxford Symphony Orchestra. |
As an organist, besides solo recitals and concerto performances at home and abroad, he has also performed modern duo repertoire, such as Eben’s Landscapes of Patmos, with percussionist Keith Fairbairn. Malcolm adjudicates at music festivals and lectures on musical topics for local branches of the National Trust and other organisations.
Malcolm’s compositions are published by Hop Vine Music, Camden Music and Oxford University Press. He is also the author of Bournemouth, No.6 in the Trolleybus Classics series published by Middleton Press. CDs of organ music, recorded at home on his Makin organ, are released on his own Larigot label. He is the editor of An Oxfordshire Organ Book, a collection of original compositions by members and associates of the Oxford and District Organists’ Association.