‘So exciting’: Hackney schoolboy plays organ for 2,000 people at St Paul’s Cathedral

Peter Maku playing the Grand Organ at St Paul’s. Photograph: courtesy Urswick School

One very talented Hackney pupil has fulfilled what is a pipe dream for many a musician this month after playing the Grand Organ at St Paul’s Cathedral.

Fourteen-year-old Peter Maku, who attends The Urswick School, played Johann Sebastian Bach’s Little Prelude No. 6 in G Minor for a 2,000-strong audience.

The school said he is the first child anyone can remember playing the Grand Organ, which is one of the largest of its kind in the UK and has been described by cathedral staff as a “national treasure”.

Maku has been taking lessons at school for nearly three years, under the tutelage of Makoto James, a former organ scholar at Oxford University.

The teenager has previously played the organ at St John at Hackney Church.

He said of the experience: “It was so exciting and I am very proud of myself. It made me feel really happy.”

Richard Brown, Urswick’s executive head, added: “It was such a thrill as organ music played by Peter filled the cathedral.

“He has worked so hard and it is such an achievement to reach the required standard to be allowed to play at St Paul’s.”