William Fielding – ARD INTERNATIONAL MUSIC COMPETITION

2026: 1st prize

Organ

William Fielding was born in Blackburn, United Kingdom, in 1999 and is a former chorister at Blackburn cathedral.

After spending three years as a student at St. Mary’s Music School in Edinburgh, he studied organ and piano for two years at the Royal College of Music in London with David Graham and Kathron Sturrock. During that time, he was an organ scholar at the Chapel Royal at Hampton Court Palace.

In 2020, Fielding decided to continue his studies in Toulouse, France, with Michel Bouvard and subsequently with Yoann Tardivel at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional Xavier Darasse de Toulouse. There, he worked closely with Mark Opstad and the conservatory’s Maîtrise de Toulouse, with whom he recorded a CD featuring, among other works, Maurice Duruflé’s “Requiem.”

After receiving the “Prix François Vidal” for his graduation recital in Toulouse in June 2022, Fielding was admitted to the organ class at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris and has since been studying with Olivier Latry and Thomas Ospital.

Fielding has won the first prize in the Xavier Darasse international organ competition, as well as the “Grand Prix d‘Orgue Jean-Louis Florentz.”

He performs as a soloist throughout Europe, and during the 2023/24 academic year, he served as “Organist in Residence” at the Sapporo Concert Hall in Japan and gave solo concerts throughout Japan during that time, including at Suntory Hall and the Osaka Symphony Hall.

In July 2024, his first solo CD, titled “Voyage à travers les tribunes de Paris,” was released. In addition, Fielding serves as assistant organist at the Basilica of St-Sernin in Toulouse.

At the 75th ARD International Music Competition, William Fielding won the first prize in the organ category.