George Miles (organist)
George Theophilus Miles FRCO (23 February 1913 – 26 March 1988) was an English organist and organ teacher based in Birmingham.
Education[]
He was educated at King's School, Canterbury and the Royal College of Music.
He studied with Karl Straube at the Kirchenmusikalisches Institut in Leipzig.
Career[]
From the 1930s, through recitals and in particular broadcasts, he was virtually alone in representing the continental style of organ playing in Britain, especially in Bach.[1]
He was consulted by Ralph Downes on the design of the new organ for the Royal Festival Hall.
Soon after World War II he became established as a devoted and respected teacher through his hundreds of pupils from Birmingham University and the Birmingham School of Music.[2]
He was organist at St. Peter's Church, Harborne from 1946 to 1988.
Personal life[]
He was born on February 23, 1913 to Canon Joseph Henry Miles (1856 - 1935) (Curate of Castlerea 1882 - 1883, Canon of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin 1883 - 1896, Rector of Pangbourne 1896 - 1913, Curate of West Teignmouth 1918 - 1919, Benenden 1919-1922, Chaplain of Faversham Almshouses 1922 - 1930) and Helen J Kolb in Pangbourne, Berkshire. His half brother Harry Godfrey Massy-Miles died in the First World War.
He married Margarete Böhm.[3] They had one son, George Christopher Miles (1942 – 1994).
He died in Birmingham on March 26, 1988.
References[]
- English classical organists
- British male organists
- 1913 births
- 1988 deaths
- People educated at The King's School, Canterbury
- Alumni of the Royal College of Music
- Fellows of the Royal College of Organists
- Musicians from Kent
- 20th-century classical musicians
- 20th-century English musicians
- 20th-century organists
- 20th-century British male musicians