Challenger

"Wedding Music" is the stunning collaboration between Tom Challenger (Saxophone) and Kit Downes (Church Organ). Having both led, co-led and recorded with their own critically acclaimed ensembles (Downes with his Mercury nominated 'Golden' and later 'Quiet Tiger'; Challenger with Ma: 'The Last' and Outhouse: 'Straws Sticks and Bricks'), 'Wedding Music' matches the unique texture of Church Organ and Saxophone, as well as bringing together two of the most exciting and gifted young improvisers in the UK.

John Challenger has been Assistant Director of Music at Salisbury Cathedral since September 2012, where he accompanies the Cathedral's liturgy on the great Father Willis Organ. He received his musical education as a chorister at Hereford Cathedral under Dr Roy Massey and Geraint Bowen, and as an Organ Scholar at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, and St John’s College, Cambridge; at St John’s, under the directorship of Andrew Nethsingha, he played the organ for services, concerts, recordings, broadcasts, tours, and four critically-acclaimed recordings on the Chandos label.

A gripping tale of exploration aboard H.M.S. Challenger, an expedition that laid the foundations for modern oceanography

Andrew Nethsingha and The Choir of St John’s, Cambridge present a tribute album to two former directors, Christopher Robinson and David Hill, who celebrate their 85th and 65th birthdays respectively.

One of the most tragic and shocking images ever broadcast to the American people, the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion left our country in mourning. The loss of seven astronauts became more heartbreaking as we learned that the incident could have been avoided if protocols had been different. Hear the emotional recollections of the Challenger commander’s wife, two astronauts who were involved in the launch preparation, an engineer for the rocket boosters that failed, and a reporter who thought this would be a routine workday, as they relive the controversial moments that lead to the most notorious day in NASA’s history.