Tom Winpenny is a freelance organist and choral director. He recently completed sixteen years working as Assistant Master of the Music and Director of the Cathedral Girls Choir at St Albans Cathedral where his duties included accompanying the daily choral services and directing the acclaimed Cathedral Girls Choir. Previously, he was Sub-Organist at St Paul's Cathedral, and during this time he performed with the Cathedral Choir at the American Guild of Organists National Convention, performed in Mahler's Symphony no. 8 with the London Symphony Orchestra, and played for many great state occasions. He has broadcast regularly on BBC Radio and regularly featured on American Public Media's Pipedreams.

He began organ lessons under John Scott Whiteley while a chorister at York Minster, and continued as a Music Scholar at Eton College under Alastair Sampson. After holding the post of Organ Scholar at Worcester Cathedral and then St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, he was for three years Organ Scholar at King's College, Cambridge, where he graduated with a degree in music. With the Choir of King's College, he gave concerts in the USA, Hong Kong and throughout Europe, in addition to appearing as their accompanist on CD releases on EMI Classics.

In recent years he has given recitals in St Stephen's Cathedral (Vienna), Hallgrímskirkja (Reykjavík), Grace Cathedral (San Francisco), and Kalmar Cathedral (Sweden). He has also featured as organ soloist in John Rutter’s Christmas celebration concerts at the Royal Albert Hall, London, and recently performed Francis Pott's monumental organ symphony Christus.

He has taken part in the first performance of works by Judith Weir, Cecilia McDowall, Judith Bingham, Carl Rütti, Jonathan Dove, Peter Dickinson, Paul Mealor, Francis Grier, Alec Roth and Francis Pott. He has studied with Thomas Trotter and Johannes Geffert, and won First Prize and the Audience Prize at the 2008 Miami International Organ Competition.

Tom Winpenny is a busy recording artist renowned for his extensive and acclaimed discography. His many solo organ recordings include Olivier Messiaen’s cycles L’Ascension and La Nativité du Seigneur, and the compete organ works of Schumann (Naxos), as well as profiles of composers Elisabeth Lutyens, Peter Racine Fricker, Malcolm Williamson and John Joubert (Toccata Classics), music by Lennox and Michael Berkeley, John McCabe and Charles Villiers Stanford (Resonus Classics), and music by Judith Bingham (Naxos). His recordings of Messiaen’s Les Corps Glorieux/Messe de la Pentecôte and Livre d'Orgue (Naxos) were each awarded five-star reviews both in Choir and Organ magazine (the magazine's Star Choice for Livre d'Orgue) and in the French journal Diapason. In 2022 his recording of Elgar's organ works (Naxos) was awarded a Critic's Choice in Gramophone magazine, whilst his recording of Francis Pott's Christus received the same accolade in the American Record Guide.

“Tom Winpenny displayed his sensitive musicianship over and over again both as soloist and impeccable choir accompanist.”… “a stylish, virtuoso performance”

The Diapason on Tom Winpenny’s performances at the AGO National Convention

Throughout this recital Winpenny reveals that he is a natural Elgarian [...] In sum, this is an album of strong, committed and painstakingly fine organ-playing.

Gramophone on Elgar – Complete Organ Works (Naxos)

“Tom Winpenny…creates, stimulatingly, and atmosphere of rapt attention [...] through his sense of how to match pace […] to the acoustic.” Organists’ Review on Messiaen’s La Nativité du Seigneur (Naxos)

“His artistry is ne plus ultra in technical facility, registration, and every other parameter of organ performance.” Fanfare Magazine (Nov/Dec 2020) on Persichetti: Organ Music (Toccata Classics)