The UK's leading Digital Church Organ specialist
I normally write this review much earlier in the year. The start of 2025 has been so busy it is not now until early March that I have found the time to put pen to paper and reflect on the major events of the previous year. Launch of Physis+ and the first church installation using…
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Whilst in Luxembourg for our Alkan recording project with Dr Joseph Nolan, we were lucky enough to get a day off to explore the organs around Luxembourg City. As Eglise Saint-Martin was naturally busy on the Sunday we took the opportunity to visit nearby Luxembourg for lunch and do a little tourist activity. All public…
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For nearly 20 years now, I have been fortunate to assist my great musician friend, Dr Joseph Nolan make recordings or concerts on some of the most famous and highly regarded instruments across France and beyond. I have learnt so much by watching a true expert perform and of course been able to sneak onto…
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The RSCM produces guidance on fees and remuneration of Church Musicians. They now invite you to take part to help refresh and overhaul this work. The purpose of this survey is to inform updated guidance on church musicians’ fees to be issued by the RSCM, often known as “RSCM rates”. Church music is of course…
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My day started off badly when the phone rang on the way to work. Our service manager Peter was on the other end to tell me his van had broken down. We were due at Christ Church Northampton later that day to complete the installation of an Envoy 350-FV and his van contained the plinth…
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The organ world by nature is bound to be served by small companies. This applies equally to the pipe organ sector and the digital side of the industry. Many of these suppliers may only be single worker entities earning a modest living from their specialist knowledge and skills. A few grow to be more significant…
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Late in 2023 we were asked to visit Christ Church Cathedral and advise on options for an instrument to replace the Quire pipe organ that was on loan from Martin Renshaw. The main west end Rieger organ, a versatile instrument of great beauty which was commissioned in the 1970s, accompanied the Cathedral Choir which was…
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It scary to realise that almost 5 years have passed since I was at All Hallows Church in Hargrave concluding this installation just a few months before the pandemic hit. Local organist Nicholas Pollard achieved what is quite a rare feat obtaining permission to install a large 3 manual instrument in a relatively small church….
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My first visit to Southwell Minster was a surprise visit for my 50th birthday to play the Screen Organ there. My 40th birthday had seen a visit to Salisbury Cathedral and my 60th went unmarked, which must mean my 70th is coming up next year and must be a very auspicious venue indeed! Time will…
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After the last two years working with Ralph Allwood and the Trinity Laban Choir at the Old Royal Naval Chapel (ORNC) in Greenwich, we once again returned to St Margaret’s Church in North Oxford for a filming session concentrating exclusively on organs. Showcasing the Ensign range of new Physis Plus organs recently launched in the…
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It’s probably about 4 or 5 years since Anna Lapwood came to our attention as a prolific user of social media to present her enjoyment of the organ in lots of guises and locations. Our first meeting with her occurred just before lockdown in 2020 when she purchased in the nick of time her first…
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One of the great joys of working in this business is the variety of people and locations we get to meet and visit. On that score it would be hard to beat St Mary’s Church in Beverley on both measures. Many will associate Beverley with the better known Minster but if you ever find yourself…
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The final delivery from Italy in 2023 included the final instruments making up the Ensign Organ Range which replaces the Chorum models based on sampled sound. A few days later we had our trusted photographer lined up to take the images needed for the web site and hard copy literature. The new models are designed…
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To encourage more musicians to take up the organ and existing organists to develop their skills and grow their confidence, the Royal School of Church Music (RSCM) has relaunched Church Music Skills (Organ). This programme could be a great tool for our customers, or anyone who might be interested in learning to play this fantastic…
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2023 has been a very encouraging year. The effects of the pandemic seem now to be truly over with our important church customer market back at full throttle. Possibly even at an elevated rate as the high cost of repair of pipe organs seems to be tipping the decisions in favour of a lower cost…
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Ian Higginson, a composer, conductor, organist and teacher living and working in Gloucestershire UK, has released a new book of organ music. Christmas Organ Sound Colours Vol 1 is an organ publication from Parish Publications and now available to purchase as a physical copy or digital download. Ian Higginson has previously published other books in…
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(*Note! Picture of Sonus 60 Organ above is a NOT the actual used instrument described below but shown for reference.) Back in spring 2017 a customer based in Guernsey purchased a Viscount Sonus 60 Organ for home practice. It required a personal delivery service as the instrument was to go into an upstairs room….
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Its that time of year again and the Battle of the Organs is back on at Selby Abbey. The event takes place on Friday 1st September 2023 at 7pm. We’ll see the return of internationally renowned organists Martin Baker and John Scott Whiteley, who will be taking turns on the Abbey’s magnificent Hill pipe organ,…
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I have completely forgotten how I first came to be involved with the various Oundle initiatives to provide organ teaching to youngsters. I do know it was at least 30 years ago when the programme was under the direction of my old friend James Parsons. James was Director of Music at Oundle School and the…
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We recently returned to Peterhouse Cambridge to move our Envoy 35-F instrument from the college chapel to its new home in the old Brewhouse where it becomes a permanent addition to practice resources for the College. For the short trip the organ had to be taken across busy Trumpington Street as the new home is…
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St Mary’s Church in Banbury was the host for this event organised by Director of Music Dylan McCaig, who also teaches at the local Warriner School. Dylan is clearly a great ambassador for the organ and hopefully this will be the first of many such organ days in years to come acting to engage local…
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Just before the pandemic Stephen Smith suggested an evening lock in to enjoy the pipe organ at Southwark Cathedral. Three years later we finally got a date in the diary. On a lovely sunny Monday in May, Richard Goodall and I took the train into Marylebone to attend evensong before the doors were closed so…
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Every so often we get to work in exceptional buildings and extraordinary circumstances. The Jesuit Chapel at Stonyhurst College managed to combine both these attributes in a single commission. On entering the chapel at Stonyhurst College you would be forgiven for thinking it was the work of Augustus Pugin, but it is actually that of…
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All of us in the organ world are no doubt tired of the age old joke, Question: ‘Whats the difference between and organist and a terrorist’? Answer: ‘You can negotiate with a terrorist’ It no doubt stems from the probably correct recognition that if the congregation want to go in one direction and the organist…
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