Jeremy Filsell is one of those rare keyboard players to have developed virtuoso talent on both piano and organ. His piano repertory is broad and encompasses many standard works by
Mozart and
Beethoven, as well as challenging concertos by
Rachmaninov (the Second and Third), and little known pieces by
Eugene Goossens,
Herbert Howells, and Bernard Stevens.
Filsell has tended to appear in concert and on recordings more often as an organist, occasionally championing neglected repertory like the organ works of
Marcel Dupré,
Barber, and
Kodály. He has made numerous recordings for several labels, including Signum, Herald, ASV, and Guild. For Guild alone he has made well over 30 recordings since 1995.
Filsell was precocious as a child, divulging extraordinary talent early on. He debuted as a pianist at age 12 on BBC TV. In his teens he won the Limpus Prize as an FRCO candidate from the Royal College of Organists and eventually earned a fellowship. He was also awarded a Silver Medal by the Worshipful Company of Musicians in London.
Filsell studied organ at Keble College (Oxford University) and piano at the Royal College of Music with Hilary MacNamara and David Parkhouse. In Paris he took private instruction on organ from
Daniel Roth.
In 1993
Filsell was a prize winner at the St. Alban's International Organ Competition, and by then his career was already in full swing as both a pianist and organist. In 1995 he began recording for Guild Records, first as an organist with the Oxford Book of Wedding Music, then as a pianist on a disc of works by
Howells and Stevens, then as a chamber player, with successive CDs of violin and piano sonatas by British composers.
Filsell launched what has probably been his most important series of recordings in 1998 when he recorded volume one of the complete organ works of
Marcel Dupré. Amazingly, this critically acclaimed cycle, running 11 discs, was completed in less than a year. By the early years of the new century,
Filsell was a seasoned concert artist, having toured the United States, Europe, and his homeland both as a pianist and organist. He has worked with the
BBC Singers and under conductors
Stephen Cleobury and
Pierre Boulez.
He has held several important teaching positions, including at the Royal Northern College of Music, Eton College, and Royal College of Music. Among
Filsell's later recordings was the 2005 three-CD set on Signum Classics of Louis Vierne's six organ symphonies,
Noël Nouvelet (2007), and Duruflé: Requiem; Grunenwald: De Profundis (2009).