Francis Grier

English composer and psychoanalyst (b1955)

Francis John Roy Grier (born 29 July 1955 in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia) is an English classical composer and psychoanalyst.

Francis Grier's musical journey began at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, where he served as a chorister. He later became the first music scholar at Eton College and went on to be an organ scholar at King's College, Cambridge. During this period he worked under Joseph Cooper, Fanny Waterman and Bernard Roberts, Sidney Campbell and Gillian Weir. Following his studies at Cambridge, where he worked under Sir David Willcocks and Philip Ledger at King's, he joined Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, as Simon Preston's assistant. In 1981, at the age of 25, he succeeded Preston as Organist and Tutor in Music. During this time, he recorded numerous pieces and performed on BBC TV and radio as both an organist and chamber music pianist. Additionally, Grier commissioned contemporary composers to create new works for the choir. Throughout his career, Grier has been commissioned to compose works for various cathedral and collegiate foundations. Notably, he created a setting of Psalm 150 as a birthday gift for Queen Elizabeth II in 1996, which was performed at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. He also composed a new piece for the 'Choirbook for the Queen' in celebration of the Diamond Jubilee. In 2012 he won a British Composer Award, and was commissioned to write new works for both the Worshipful Company of Musicians and the Rodolfus Choir. His work has been frequently performed and recorded including by the King's College Cambridge Choir, the BBC Singers, the choir of Caius College Cambridge, the Philharmonia Voices, Rodolfus Choir, Michael Waldron and the London Choral Sinfonia as well as by organist Tom Winpenny. Stephen Farr premiered a major new large scale organ work based on the theme of All Saints in several major cathedrals and churches in 2022, and he has recording this in 2023, alongside other works for organ. Michael Waldron and the London Choral Sinfonia have recorded Sword in the Soul for CD and have performed it on Good Friday at St John's, Smith Square. The Grier Trio consists of Savitri (violin) and Indira (cello) playing with their father, Francis Grier (piano). They have played at St John's, Smith Square and at the Fairfield Halls, Croydon, as well as in the Blackheath Halls concert series, and they have regularly performed at St Mary's, Perivale and at Bob Boas’ concert series. In 2016 they played at All Souls, Oxford, and in the Holywell Music Room for the Oxford Chamber Music Society. In 2017 they performed the Beethoven Triple Concerto in the Chapel of King's College, Cambridge, with the Cambridge University Chamber Orchestra directed by Stephen Cleobury.

Francis Grier was appointed Editor In Chief of the International Journal of Psychoanalysis in 2022, and is a Training Analyst and Supervisor of the British Psychoanalytical Society. He is also a couple psychotherapist. He works in private practice in London and leads a seminar for the psychotherapists in the Fitzjohn's Unit of the Tavistock Clinic, which specialises in working psychoanalytically with patients who would not normally have access to psychoanalytic treatment. He has written and edited papers, chapters and two books on couple psychotherapy, including Oedipus and the Couple (2005), and papers for the IJP on two Verdi operas (Rigoletto and La Traviata), on a gendered approach to Beethoven, on musicality in the consulting room, and on the music of the drives and perversions.