Joseph Fort
Performer
Joseph Fort is College Organist & Director of the Chapel Choir, and Senior Lecturer in Music at King’s College London, where he directs the Choir of King’s College London in chapel services, broadcasts, recordings, concerts and international tours. The choir’s performances under his direction have been recognised as “English choral singing at its best” (Choir & Organ) and “a performance of astonishing intensity and musicality” (Gramophone). In 2021 he was appointed Director of Music at St Paul’s, Knightsbridge, where he conducts the acclaimed professional choir, and in the same year he was made Artistic Director of the Cowbridge Music Festival. Recent orchestral conducting includes performances with Britten Sinfonia, the English Chamber Orchestra, the Hanover Band, and the London Mozart Players. Festival conducting appearances include the Festival de México, the White Nights Festival in St Petersburg, the Montreal Organ Festival, the London Handel Festival, the St Albans International Organ Festival, and the conventions of both the American Guild of Organists and the Royal Canadian College of Organists.
Joseph is known for his innovative and creative programming, and his track record of eclectic commissions ranges from new Canticle settings to large-scale works for choir and electric guitar. His expansive discography with Delphian Records has received considerable critical acclaim, including “Editor’s Choice” and the “best new classical albums” selections in Gramophone. Later in 2025 his recording of Kristina Arakelyan’s choral music will be released with Signum Classics. He broadcasts regularly on BBC Radio 3 and Classic FM. Joseph is also known for his expertise as an arranger and editor of early twentieth-century British music, and his chamber arrangement of The Cloud Messenger by Gustav Holst is credited with causing a recent resurgence of performances of that work, both in the UK and overseas. He has a longstanding partnership with the English Chamber Orchestra, with whom he is marking Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s 150th anniversary with a series of concerts in 2025.
Joseph holds a PhD from Harvard University; his academic research focuses on eighteenth-century music and dance. His monograph Haydn’s Minuets and Eighteenth-Century Dance will be published by Cambridge University Press in September 2025. He has published in the Eighteenth-Century Music and Die Tonkunst journals, and has chapters in books with Cambridge University Press and Leipzig University Press. Prior to Harvard he studied at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he was the organ scholar, and at the Royal Academy of Music, who in 2017 elected him to their Associateship.
Biographical Details
- Director of The Choir of King’s College London
- Director of The Choir of St Paul’s Church, Knightsbridge
- Biography: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/joseph-fort
Works performed by Joseph Fort
Call for Scores submissionWorld premiere
- An Invocation to the Holy Spirit Matthew Martin
- Ave maris stella Kristina Arakelyan
- Evening Canticles Robert Keeley
- From the Book of Amos Robert Keeley
- Gloucester Service Kerensa Briggs
- God be Mercifulfrom Evening Psalms Edward Nesbit
- Hear my Prayer Kerensa Briggs
- King’s Service Matthew Kaner
- Love bade me welcome Rhian Samuel
- Mass for St Mark Judith Ward
- Media vita Kerensa Briggs
- O sacrum convivium Olivier Messiaen
- Preces and Responses Kerensa Briggs
- Sancte et sapienter Philip Moore
- Te lucis ante terminum Kristina Arakelyan
- Ubi caritas Kerensa Briggs
- ‘Twas in the year George Benjamin
Festival performances by Joseph Fort
Call for Scores submissionWorld premiere
LFCCM 2025
- High Mass on Sunday 11 May 2025 at St Paul’s Church, Knightsbridge
- Choral Evensong on Tuesday 13 May 2025 at King’s College London
LFCCM 2022
- Eucharist on Sunday 8 May 2022 at St Paul’s Church, Knightsbridge
LFCCM 2019
- Choral Evensong on Tuesday 14 May 2019 at King’s College London
- Choral Eucharist on Wednesday 15 May 2019 at King’s College London
LFCCM 2017
- Choral Evensong on Tuesday 9 May 2017 at King’s College London
- Choral Eucharist on Wednesday 10 May 2017 at King’s College London
LFCCM 2016
- Choral Evensong on Tuesday 10 May 2016 at King’s College London
- Choral Eucharist on Wednesday 11 May 2016 at King’s College London