Mark Duley was born in New Zealand. He studied at Auckland University, the North German Organ Academy and Amsterdam’s Sweelinck Conservatorium, where he was a pupil of Jacques van Oortmerssen. He came to Ireland in 1992 as organist and director of music at Christ Church Cathedral Dublin, a post he held for eleven years. For ten years he was also artistic director of the Irish Baroque Orchestra: he co-founded the ensemble in 1996, and over the ensuing period ensured its establishment as Ireland’s flagship baroque ensemble.

Mark now pursues a busy freelance career both in Ireland and further afield. As both conductor and organist he has appeared with most of the major Irish ensembles, including RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, RTÉ Concert Orchestra, the National Chamber Choir, the Irish Baroque Orchestra, Opera Theatre Company, and his own professional choir Resurgam. He has performed at many of Ireland’s premiere festivals, including the Wexford Opera Festival, the Cork International Choral Festival, the Kilkenny Arts Festival and the East Cork Early Music Festival.

He has given organ recitals throughout Ireland, the UK, continental Europe and his native New Zealand, and is active as an organ adviser and consultant. A particular interest is the nineteenth century French harmonium, and he has given many performances of the music written for this instrument. Mark is one of Ireland’s most well-known choral specialists, and regularly leads workshops and masterclasses for choirs throughout Ireland and abroad, recent visits including Sweden and Switzerland. He has acted as adjudicator at the major Irish competitions and festivals. Mark holds the posts of chorusmaster to the RTÉ Philharmonic Choir and artistic director of Pipeworks (formerly the Dublin International Organ and Choral Festival), and is organist of the Collegiate Church of St Nicholas, Galway