In 2000 O'Donnell was appointed Organist and Master of the Choristers at Westminster Abbey, the first Catholic to be appointed to the nearly 500-year-old role.[5] At the abbey he was responsible for the daily choral services, functions for special occasions, concerts, broadcasts, recordings and tours. With the abbey choir he travelled throughout Europe, the United States, Asia and Australia.[4]
O'Donnell's final service at Westminster Abbey was on Christmas Day 2022, after which he took up a teaching role at Yale University in the United States while also holding the position of organist emeritus at the abbey.[13] In 2023 he was also appointed artist-in-residence at Christ Church in Greenwich, Connecticut.[14]
Teaching and other positions
O'Donnell was professor of organ at the Royal Academy of Music from 1997 to 2004,[6] and remains a visiting professor.[3] and is currently a visiting professor of organ and choral conducting there.[1]
O'Donnell has made around 50 recordings as an organist and choral conductor,[1][6][10] many of which were performed with the Westminster Cathedral Choir.
He was the organist for a 1993 recording of works by Camille Saint-Saëns, reissued in 2019, including the Requiem (Op. 54), the Third Symphony with organ (Op. 78) and the overture of La princesse jaune (Op. 30). The recording was performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra and combined choirs from Hertfordshire, Harlow and East London, with soloists Tinuke Olafimihan, Catherine Wyn-Rogers, Anthony Roden and Simon Kirkbride, and was conducted by Geoffrey Simon.[15]
In 1998 O'Donnell conducted the Westminster Cathedral Choir in two major recordings of sacred works for a cappella choir, both composed in 1922: Martin's Mass for Double Choir and Pizzetti's Messa di Requiem.[17][18][19] A reviewer from Hi-Fi News commented that the singers responded to their conductor "in inspirational fashion" and noted "choral singing of great security and immaculate tonal blend, ardent and full-throated in tuttis yet wonderfully serene too".[19] On the same Hyperion Records CD O'Donnell conducted Pizzetti's De profundis dating from 1837 and played Martin's Passacaille for organ, composed in 1944.[18][19]Robert Layton from Gramophone wrote that "it is a measure of James O'Donnell's achievement with Westminster Cathedral Choir that the gain in purity and beauty is at no time at the expense of depth and fervour. This is an altogether moving and eloquent performance, often quite thrilling and always satisfying".[17]
In a 2014 live recording from the restored Royal Festival Hall, O'Donnell played both Poulenc's Organ Concerto and Saint-Saëns's Third Symphony with organ, with Nézet-Séguin conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra. A reviewer noted that he played the organ with "sensitivity and spark".[20]
In a 2014 recording entitled Music for Remembrance, O'Donnell combined Duruflè's Requiem, in the orchestral version, with choral works written in memory of those fallen in the World Wars, including Three Prayers of Dietrich Bonhoeffer set by Philip Moore and The peace that surpasseth understanding by John Tavener, performed by soloists Christine Rice and Roderick Williams, the Westminster Abbey Choir, the Britten Sinfonia and organist Robert Quinney; it was conducted by O'Donnell[21] and recorded at Westminster Abbey. He said at a recording session: "I spend my life working against the clock, and people don't make good music if they're under pressure. If you stay calm it gives everyone a sporting chance of getting on with it".[22]
.jpg)
