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Year in Review 2016
Catholic Diocese of Sandhurst
27
Samuel awarded scholarship
S
amuel Whitehead has been awarded The Aspire Cultural and Charitable Foundation’s
inaugural Eileen Denton Organ Scholarship.
The Most Reverend Bishop Leslie Tomlinson, Catholic Bishop of Sandhurst, presented the
scholarship at the conclusion of the 11am Easter Sunday Mass at Sacred Heart Cathedral,
Bendigo.
Samuel, 25, is a talented musician who began playing the piano at the age of seven. For the
past seven years he has played the organ as a student of Sandhurst Diocesan Director of
Sacred Music, Mr John Hogan. His achievements include playing pieces in organ recitals in
Melbourne, most notably at Melbourne Town Hall, St Paul’s Cathedral and Scots’ Church.
Locally, Mr Whitehead has played for services at the former Golden Square Uniting Church.
He wrote a Toccata for Organ dedicated to John Hogan and a Mass
Missa Profunda
for choir
and organ, which Sacred Heart Cathedral Choir has premiered. Mr Hogan said the scholarship
is the first scholarship of its type to be presented in regional Victoria. Mr Whitehead played the
final Organ Voluntary at the end of Easter Sunday Mass, when he performed the Finale from
Alexandre Guilmant’s First Organ Sonata, a piece that Eileen Denton often performed.
Eileen Denton’s son, Noel Denton, was present at the Mass and told of his mother’s great love of
music and of the Sacred Heart Cathedral, and of the central role these played in her life. Eileen
was the Sacred Heart Cathedral’s organist from 1920-1931 and Choir Director from 1941-1948.
Noel Denton congratulates Samuel Whitehead on being awarded the inaugural Eileen Denton Organ
Scholarship, with Bishop Leslie Tomlinson and Fr Tony Shallue.
FORMATION & EDUCATION