BILLED as the man who knows Hereford Cathedral’s organ “better than anyone else alive”, Dr Roy Massey will be doing what he does best to mark his 80th birthday.

Dr Massey, Organist Emeritus to the Cathedral, will give a gala concert there on Tuesday, May 13, having turned 80 a few days earlier.

“We are delighted to be celebrating Roy’s birthday in such a special way,’ said Geraint Bowen, the cathedral’s current organist & director of music, who served as Dr Massey’s assistant organist from 1989 to 1994.

“He probably knows the organ better than anyone else alive, having had daily contact with it for 27 years, and he must also be one of the few people around to have given two opening recitals on the same cathedral organ – the first time on the completion of its rebuild in 1978, and the second was after the refurbishment of 2005, “ he said.

A guest list for the birthday concert has been compile from all over the country

Dr Massey was organist at the cathedral for 27 years, from 1974 to 2001.

In 1991 the rarely awarded Lambeth degree of Doctor of Music was conferred on him by the Archbishop of Canterbury and in 1997 he was awarded the MBE for services to music.

He was nine times conductor in chief of the Three Choirs Festival at Hereford, where he premiered several important works for chorus and orchestra by modern British composers. In the course of his career he has given organ concerts all over the world including a solo appearance at the BBC Proms.

Dr Massey’s programme will show off all the colours of the Willis organ for which it is renowned, including Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor.

Full details of the programme are on the cathedral’s website www.herefordcathedral.org