Rachel Mahon to Coventry Cathedral, UK

Rachel Mahon is appointed director of music for Coventry Cathedral, UK, effective September 1. The current director of music, Kerry Beaumont, will step down at the end of August.

Mahon has been assistant director of music at Coventry Cathedral since 2018, and was the assistant organist at Chester Cathedral before that. Prior to taking up her post at Chester, she was the first female organ scholar of St Paul’s Cathedral, London, England, assuming the post in September 2014.

Mahon was raised in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where her parents were both choral directors. She sang with the Girls’ Choir of Grace Church on-the-Hill and later the Oratory Children’s Choir. She initially began studying piano, but switched to organ in 2005. Mahon won a scholarship from the Royal Canadian College of Organists to begin studying with Melva Graham and in 2007 continued under Andrew Ager. She received the degree of Bachelor of Music in organ at the University of Toronto School of Music under John Tuttle.

Mahon has held organ posts at St. James Cathedral, Trinity College, and Timothy Eaton Memorial Church in Toronto and at Truro Cathedral in Cornwall, England. She has won several prizes, including first prize at the 2012 RCCO Toronto Competition for Young Organists, and second prize in the 2013 Canadian National Organ Playing Competition. She has performed with a number of choirs: the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, the Larkin Singers, and the Tallis Choir, among others.

For information: www.coventrycathedral.org.uk.