G R I F F E N 2 0 2 3 | 9 In their (different) school years, Paddy Gervers (2008) and Jonny Donahoe (2001) probably spent more time in the drama department than the music corridor, but when they teamed up as Jonny and the Baptists in 2011, it was as exponents of ‘musical comedy’. Over their more-than-decade together, they have risen to the very top of this particular tree through a combination of national tours, sell-out Edinburgh Fringe shows, countless witty songs, broadcasts and a series of joyfully pungent live recordings that have got up the noses of some of the so-called great and not-so-good (mentioning no names). With such a commitment to live work, the Covid shutdown dealt the Baptists a heavy blow, made worse when Jonny moved to Glasgow while Paddy stayed in London. They responded by crowdfunding for a new studio album called Dance Like It Never Happened. Their efforts were so successful that they were able to hire most of Jamie Cullum’s band to back them and the result is not only their most accomplished album to date – surely the Sgt Pepper of musical comedy discs – but also the most potent of theatrical calling cards. Not long after their album release, Jonny and Paddy were invited to work on new projects at the National Theatre. At Abingdon, Fin Taylor (2008) played the bass in various school ensembles, but like Paddy and Jonny, headed for the door marked ‘Comedy’ when choosing a career path. Like every other performer, his work stopped in March 2020, and for a few months he delivered food parcels and wrote copy for an electric scooter company – ironic at a time when no-one could go anywhere. Happily, a range of television work came along, and before the end of 2020 he had made appearances on Have I Got News For You and Late Night Mash with fellow-comedian Nish Kumar. Now that live work has returned, he is balancing that with broadcast appearances – most recently on the Radio 4 stalwart The Now Show – and a variety of online ventures, the latest of which is called Fin Vs The Internet. Fin Taylor at the Hackney Empire Dr Hubert Zawadzki. Alongside these engagements, Tom also finds time to teach as Professor of Jazz Composition and Arranging at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and to serve as visiting Jazz Lecturer at Oxford University. Hugh Cutting (2015) is another Abingdonian with a dizzying array of talents. Many here remember his superb performances in a School production of Les Misérables, in which he delighted audiences with his mellifluous tenor. Now, he is acquiring a reputation as one of the finest counter tenors on the scene, witness his selection as one of BBC Radio 3’s New Generation Artists – an accolade that places him in the company of a select number of the very finest classical musicians. Hugh also triumphed in this year’s Kathleen Ferrier Competition, becoming the first counter tenor to win the coveted award. As part of the Radio 3 scheme, the good news for listeners is that they will, quite literally, be hearing a lot more of Hugh in the next two years. Not to be outdone, Hugh’s older brother Guy Cutting (2009) has also been a significant presence on the airwaves. This summer, he appeared as a soloist in a BBC Prom performance of Bach’s B minor Mass. In autumn Guy had numerous engagements in Germany, France and the Netherlands, and he was performing closer to home in December, in concerts in Oxford, London, Edinburgh and Glasgow. Another distinguished Abingdon musician is Hugh Morris (1995), not only an organist of repute but also director of the Royal Society of Church Music. Like Hugh, Edmund Finnis (2002) ‘grew up’ in church music. He was a chorister at both New College and Abingdon, but after studying at the Guildhall School of Music with Julian Anderson, he focused on composition, and now has a growing reputation as a composer with a ‘multifaceted output that ranges from intimate music for soloists to immersive electronic pieces, music for film, ensemble music and works for large orchestra.’ In September 2022, the Southbank’s Queen Elizabeth Hall saw the world premiere of his new work Mirror Images, performed in the Purcell Room by Vikingur Olafsson. Baritone Donald Greig (1978) began his musical journey as a chorister at Westminster Abbey, and followed his time at Abingdon as a choral scholar at Canterbury Cathedral. By his own admission, he made attempts to “fly in the face of such an upbringing” by emerging from the University of Kent with a First in English and Film Studies, undertaking postgraduate research and lecturing in Film Studies and Semiology. But by the mid-1980s he was in London and part of the burgeoning Early Music scene. In what he terms “more by luck than judgement”, he joined the Tallis Scholars at the start of their rise to becoming an internationally acclaimed concert and recording group, and in 1988, became a founder member of The Orlando Consort, a male quartet specialising in the vocal music of the medieval and renaissance eras. The quartet has now enjoyed nearly 35 years of success, both on the world’s concert stages and in the recording studio, including performances at the Proms, in the Carnegie Hall and at the Edinburgh and Lucerne Festivals, as well as recording for the Deutsche Grammophon and Harmonia Mundi labels. Their versatile programming has included jazz, film and world music. Now, with the last of their twelve-disc collection of the music of Machaut close to completion, the group has decided that next year will be their final year of touring and recording together. Music is certainly a broad church, though it’s probably fair to say Ed O’Brien (1986) views it from a different pew. Still, the Radiohead guitarist showed he has commendably catholic tastes when he attended the recent launch of two new jazz-tinged albums produced by long-serving Abingdon trumpet teacher (and featured artist on Radiohead albums) Andy Bush. The event took place at BFI Southbank in London, where Ed told Andy he’d originally had aspirations to take up the trumpet when he was at School, but was told to try the trombone instead. That, as everyone knows, is no instrument for a gentleman, so after just a few weeks, Ed turned down his invitation to join the brass section. The first orchestra’s loss was rock music’s gain, as Ed took up the electric guitar and teamed up with fellow On A Friday founders Thom Yorke (1987), Jonny Greenwood (1990), Colin Greenwood (1987) and Phil Selway (1985) to create what would eventually become Radiohead – now one of the world’s most striking and successful rock bands. Orlando Higginbottom (2001) began as a chorister, before crossing the aisle from church music to contemporary pop. Orlando found his new musical home in the worlds of Indietronica, Future House, Electro, Indie Pop, DJ-ing, song-writing and music production. In the process, he also found a spectacular new name and stage presence – Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs (or TEED for short). In an interview with an American music magazine, TEED said he was looking for a name that “couldn’t be cool, couldn’t be put into some kind of scene that gets hip for six months and then falls out of fashion.” Now based in the United States, TEED released his second album, When the Lights Go On in September 2022 on his own record label, Nice Age.
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