Professor Ian Tracey has had a life-long association with Liverpool Cathedral and its music, and with his two illustrious predecessors continues the tradition of an almost apostolic succession. He studied organ with Lewis Rust, then with his immediate precursor Noel Rawsthorne. Studies at Trinity College, London, culminated in Fellowship, after which he continued his studies in Paris, with Andre Isoir and Jean Langlais.
In 1980 he became the youngest Cathedral Organist in the Country, and was appointed to his present position of Organist & Master of the Choristers two years later. Since then he has played most of the major venues in the UK and many in Europe. He has made twenty-two tours in the USA, and two in Southern Australia. The year 2004 included concerts in Notre Dame, Paris, California, New York and the Bermuda Festival, and 2005, Seattle, San Francisco and Cologne.
Ian Tracey is a frequent broadcaster with the BBC and a regular soloist at the Proms. His recordings on the Cathedral Organ have met with wide acclaim from the critics. He holds Fellowships from sixteen prestigious musical institutions, including the Royal College of Organists, and regularly examines and adjudicates. His other posts include Organist to the City of Liverpool; Guest Director of Music for the BBC Daily Service; Chorus Master to the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society; and Professor, Fellow and Organist at Liverpool, John Moores University. In 2006 the University of Liverpool conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Music, in recognition of his long and distinguished service to music in Liverpool and of his national and international reputation as a musician.