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Michael Stoddart commenced his musical education as a chorister at Westminster Abbey where he studied the organ with Christopher Herrick. After secondary education at the Haberdashers' Aske's School in Elstree, he was appointed Organ Scholar at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he played a full part in Oxford musical life both as a singer and as an organist. Returning to London, he was appointed organist and choirmaster of St Peter's Streatham, where he directed a mixed choir and was able to enjoy playing a four- manual Hill instrument.
He then moved to Paris for an extended period of organ study, with Susan Landale. He was appointed organist and then choirmaster of St George's Church and was involved in the musical life of Evreux Cathedral, where he initiated a children's choir. He also played a part in plans for a new organ in the Cathedral. Until February 2004 he was assistant organist at the American Cathedral in Paris.
Returning to the UK, he was appointed Organist and Director of Music at St Mary's Portsea and Musical Director of the St Mary's Music Foundation where he greatly expanded the children's choir. He is also Assistant Sub-Organist at Portsmouth Cathedral. As a singer he is frequently asked to sing with the choirs of Winchester, Chichester and Portsmouth cathedrals.
Appointed Organist and Director of Music at Newcastle Cathedral, a post he took up in January 2009, he is thoroughly enjoying life in the North-East. Despite the pull of 96 stops worth of organ, he trains the Cathedral choir of boys and men which sings for four to five regular weekly services, and has overall responsibility for a number of recent initiatives: a Girls' Choir which sings for at least one service per week, the Choral Outreach Project, nationally funded from the government's Sing Up scheme, and indeed all aspects of music-making in the cathedral. The cathedral's music website is http://www.stnicholascathedralmusic.co.uk
He is married to Elisabeth (violin, piano and voice) and together they have four daughters (19, 17, 14, 12), all of whom play the piano and sing, and between them also play 2 violins, 2 recorders, 1 flute, 1 oboe and a cello. Hobbies include cycling, running and model railways, for which he is lucky enough to have commandeered a large portion of the basement.
Below is a video 'Fly past' of a recent run in Yorkshire
