Townsend Symposia on Music Philosophy and the Arts

All events are FREE and open to the public

2025-2026 Townsend Symposia on Music, Philosophy, and the Arts

Dr. Stephen Darlington
conductor, musicologist, lecturer, and recording artist

Thursday, October 16, 2025
3:30 p.m.
Fickling Hall

Stephen Darlington is one of the United Kingdom’s leading choral conductors. As Director of Music at Christ Church, Oxford, from 1985 to 2018, he maintained the highest choral traditions of the Church of England in the Cathedral while developing the College as a center of academic musical excellence. Stephen is also a distinguished organist, recording artist, and conductor for television and film scores. He was awarded a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) by The Queen in 2019.

During his tenure, Christ Church Cathedral Choir toured the world to acclaim and built a lasting legacy of groundbreaking recordings that garnered many awards including a Grammy® nomination for An Oxford Elegy by Vaughan Williams. Howard Goodall’s Eternal Light: A Requiem with London Musici (EMI Classics) won a Classical BRIT Award. Other recordings with orchestra include Mendelssohn’s arrangement of Handel’s Acis and Galatea (with Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra) and Francesco Durante’s Requiem in C minor (with Oxford Baroque) which was released on the Coro label. Stephen’s recording of Goodall’s major work, Invictus: A Passion was released on the same label and was Critics’ Choice of favorite recording of 2018 in Gramophone magazine. Additionally, the choir recorded five volumes of music from the Eton Choirbook to great critical acclaim.

Under his direction, Christ Church Cathedral Choir’s tonal quality was praised and admired throughout the world from Sydney to Rio de Janeiro, from Tokyo to New York, from Helsinki to Paris, from Beijing to Toronto. His work with the choir has provided a perfect platform for singers to progress to other award-winning choral groups such as the BBC Singers, The Sixteen, King’s Singers, Tallis Scholars and Cardinall’s Musick as well as to solo careers in oratorio, opera and musical theatre.

Stephen was President of the Royal College of Organists from 2000 to 2002 and until recently was Choragus of the University of Oxford. He is the holder of a Lambeth Doctorate in Music and is the Chairman of the Ouseley Trust. He is also an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music, Fellow of the Royal School of Church Music and Honorary Canon of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford. Discover more at sdarlington.com.