Carol Williams celebrates the Spreckels Organ 100th Anniversary
December 31st this year will mark the 100th Anniversary of the outdoor organ in San Diego where Carol Williams is Civic Organist. A festive programme has been planned, including a composition by Carol to show off the newly-installed Centennial Tuba…
Picture of the month – November
Purists might shudder at the new vogue for including LED fairylights in organ rebuilds, but I think they are very much in the tradition of the confident Victorian organ builder, determined to uphold civic pride by including every gizmo going. …
Picture of the month – October
This month’s pin-up is the wonderfully frilly Hildebrandt Organ at St Wenzel, Naumburg, Germany. Many thanks to Andrew Benson-Wilson for sending me this picture, after he played the organ on a trip earlier this year. Andrew told me “Bach and…
Living the dream – a Father Willis in the garden shed
Here’s a woman after my own heart – retired music teacher Alison Malcolm has installed an 1881 Father Willis (bought for £500 in 1995) in a custom built garden shed, at her home near Salisbury, England. Planning permission was…
Picture of the month – September
I am building up a big picture library, and I thought some of them should get an airing, rather than lurk unseen on my hard drive. So this month’s calendar girl is the gorgeous Mander organ at St Andrew, Holborn,…
RCO Summer Course – organ mirrors of the world
I try to control the trainspotter* tendencies in my personality, but I do like taking pictures of organ mirrors (wait for my fully-illustrated coffee table book Organ Mirrors of the World, Part 1 – it’s going to be a wow) because they…
RCO Summer Course – name that pipe
Yesterday I showed you this pipe at Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church, but I wasn’t quite sure what it was. Eric Shepherd (who maintains the organ) has the answer: The Pedal pipe that you show is the Sub Bass 32. It…
A Big Name at Bloomsbury Central
At first glance, the organ at Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church looks rather ordinary, but many of the big names in organ music like to play here, and today we joined them on the RCO Summer Course, and found out why. …
Cocteau, Ralph Downes, and Notre Dame de France
Eric Shepherd has just drawn my attention to a fascinating recital coming up, in a fascinating place. Eglise Notre Dame de France is an unassuming post-War building in a side street off London’s Leicester Square – an area known for…
In the footsteps of Bach
Andrew Benson-Wilson is giving a recital in Leipzig next weekend on an organ where Bach gave the opening recital. The 1723 Hildebrandt organ is in the village of Stormthal – Andrew sent me some photos and I thought you would…
Five questions for…..William McVicker
Dr William McVicker recently gave us an entertaining inaugural recital on the 1858 Walker organ at St Mary’s Ponsbourne, in Hertfordshire, after its restoration – he was consultant on the project, undertaken by Mander Organs of London. As William was…
The best young organists in Europe?
For eight years now Catherine Ennis has been promoting an annual series of recitals featuring young artists at the organ. “It’s the only series, as far as I know” she says, “which gives a platform to such organists away from…
RCO Easter Course 2014 – Sleeping at Merton
Woo hoo! Pardon an adolescent outburst, but I’ve just had an hour playing the new Merton Dobson organ, and after all I’ve written about it on this blog, it was a fab moment. Here’s the view straight up from the…
The Royal Festival Hall Organ – one week on
The British organ world emerged, blinking slightly, into the media spotlight last week. The inauguration of the restored Royal Festival Hall organ, with the Opening Gala, has kicked off a fortnight’s residency of BBC Radio3 at the Hall itself, focussing…
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