B. 1904, England; Princeton, New Jersey, 1928-1935; returned to England.
Classification: Undetermined
From Organ Database Builders editor Stephen Hall, October 18, 2019. —
Ralph William Downes CBE (August 16, 1904-December 24, 1993) was an English organist, organ designer, teacher and music director and was Professor of Organ in the Royal College of Music. Downes was born in Derby and studied at the Royal College of Music from 1922 to 1923. He was assistant organist at Southwark Cathedral from 1923-1925, before moving to Keble College, Oxford (where he was an Organ Scholar 1925-1928). He was musical director and organist of the new chapel at Princeton University between 1928 and 1935, before returning to London. During his time in America, Downes made several alterations to the 1928 Skinner which G. Donald Harrison had designed for the Princeton Chapel, see OHS Database ID 412 for more information. We received the most recent update for this note from Database Manager on October 18, 2019.