David Reccia Chynoweth
Organist
Photo © Antonio Santamaria
Encouraged by his late grandfather Anglican bishop Neville Chynoweth, himself also an organist, David received his first piano lessons at the age of six and continued to receive musical tuition throughout his childhood in Canberra and in Singapore. Following his HSC at Canberra Grammar School he moved directly to Europe to begin his music studies. In Italy, he studied Organ Performance, Piano, Composition and Harpsichord at the Conservatorium of Music in Frosinone where, in 2012, he was awarded a Diploma in Organ with full marks and distinction. He was then accepted in the organ class of Pier Damiano Peretti, Michael Radulescu's successor at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst, Wien (University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna) where he specialised for many years. At the conclusion of studies in Vienna, he was awarded his Master of Music with a major in Organ performance.
To perfect his technique, David has taken part in numerous master classes on historic European Cavaillé-Coll, and Wöckherl organs with distinguished organists such as Louis Robilliard, Michel Bouvard, Daniel Roth, Jean Claude Zehnder, Luc Ponet and Wolfgang Zerer. During his time in Austria, he recorded a CD of works by Johannes Brahms at the historic pipe organs of Vienna.
Since 2011, David has performed extensively in Austria, the United States, Spain, Germany, England and in Italy, where he currently resides. He has been invited to hold eight inauguration concerts of new and restored old instruments (e.g. most recently in May 2019 the dedication recital of the new Peragallo pipe organ at St.Leonard's Boston MA, USA) and to participate in important recital festivals such as Volles Werk; the Austrian National Organ Festival, Musica Imperialis (in St. Stephen’s Cathedral, Vienna), William Hill and Son Grand Organ Concerts (Barossa Regional Gallery, Australia), Quincena de San Sebastian (San Sebastian, Spain), St. Michaelis-Kirche (Hamburg, Germany), Maggio Musicale - Città di Caserta (Caserta, Italy), Roma Festival Barocco (Rome) etc.
In 2017, David was one of few organists from all over the world, after a very selective process, who were invited to participate in the prestigious St Albans International Organ Festival Competition (UK). Arguably, the world's most leading organ competition, a place in the biannual St.Albans has been coveted by all concert artists and organ students since its founding in 1963. David has been the only Australian candidate selected in recent years.
In 2018, he gave his first extensive concert tour in Australia, performing 12 recitals in major capital cities at significant venues including St. Andrew’s Cathedral, St. James's King St., Sydney, St. Paul's Burwood, St. Peter and Paul’s Cathedral, Goulburn, St.Paul’s Ipswich, Brisbane, St. John’s Reid, Canberra, St. Michael’s on Collins St, Melbourne, St. Jude's Bowral and at the 1877 Hill Organ of Adelaide Town Hall, recently restored and relocated in the Barossa Regional Gallery, Tanunda.
David nurtures profound respect for the organ music of all periods and his broad repertoire encompasses works from the Renaissance unto the present day, including compositions and numerous transcriptions of his own.