The UK's leading Digital Church Organ specialist
Each year I have the pleasant task of deciding what topic we should base our following year educational organ tutorial videos on. This gets harder each time to ensure that we do not repeat old ground and include matters of some genuine interest. In the early years we started with ‘Hymn of the Month’ which…
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I have been aware for many years that the Copeman Hart 32 ft addition to the nave pipe organ at Southwell Minster was in need of repair as the cones had deteriorated badly over time (as you can see from pictures below). Only held together by gaffer tape they still functioned but the tape added…
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I am indebted to the Household Division web site for the information below which is a truncated version of their much fuller history. History of the Royal Military Chapel (Guards’ Chapel) The Royal Military Chapel, or the Guards’ Chapel as it is more generally known, stands in Birdcage Walk on the south side of St….
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* Image Freddie James and Wenying Wu. The RCO’s online Winter Conference returns to offer an experience for everyone with an interest in the organ and its music. It runs from 14:00–21:00 (GMT) on Thursday 17th and Friday 18th February and from 10:00–21:30 (GMT) on Saturday 19th February 2022. The conference will be Online only…
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Any thoughts that 2021 would be a normal year were quickly dashed by the Christmas 2020 lockdown. I am sure as a consequence we all started the Year in a sombre mood. Once more I sat behind my desk unable to make plans and quickly took the decision to furlough the majority of our staff….
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Earlier this year I wrote about my first visit to Viscount HQ in almost 18 months. I left Mondaino and Viscount behind early in the morning after a brief farewell with the staff. About mid way back from the Viscount factory visit in Mondaino and after a brief stop at Sansepolcro I broke for lunch…
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About 13 years ago now we supplied one of our very first 3 manual drawstop instruments to a customer in South London. Its often after a period of ownership of this length that a number of customers have thoughts of exploring a newer instrument. This may offer an improved sound platform or just as in…
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David Burchell’s prelude on the well-known hymn tune “Love Unknown” was included in An Oxfordshire Organ Book, published by the Oxford and District Organists Association. The excellent hymn tune on which it’s based was originally written by the composer John Ireland, who died in 1972. David Burchell was organ scholar and later assistant organist at…
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(This instrument is no longer available!) Some weeks ago now we were contacted by Nikki Pelmear to ask if we could help her fulfil her late father’s wishes for his Norwich Organ and music collection to find its way to a place of worship school or college. She had contacted us because of our quite…
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The following is a comparison between Wyvern Pavane 224 organ compared to the Viscount Chorum 40-S organ. It is understandable that the most popular organ chosen for home practice is often in a small console as space can be tight. Price is also an issue so our instruments at the less expensive end of the…
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I am indebted to our customer Graham Twist for bringing to my attention the material for this short blog. Graham, a retired teacher is now a quite prolific composer of organ music which he regularly presents on Facebook and Youtube, often with a free score. These are played on his Chorum 40-S, supplemented at times…
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The first performance of Poulenc’s Organ Concerto took place in 1938 and has been one of my favourite pieces since I first heard a recording in the 1960’s. The B side had Poulenc’s Concert Champetre for Harpsicord, which is also a very appealing composition. I recommend you watch the video below, where International Recitalist Joseph Nolan…
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Earlier I wrote about my first visit to Viscount HQ in almost 18 months. I left Mondaino and Viscount behind early in the morning after a brief farewell with the staff. After a few miles I left Emilia Romana behind and was back in Tuscany on the winding hill route toward the town of Sansepolcro….
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It is fair to say that there was a little anxiety, the evening before the event, that our ‘Battle Concert’ audience might be small as early ticket sales were rather slow. In the end the fears were misplaced and an audience approaching 150 slowly filled the Abbey on Friday evening. One attendee had even driven…
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The plans are coming together for a repeat organ battle performance with a twist in Selby Abbey on September 3 2021 . Internationally renowned organists Martin Baker and John Scott Whiteley will be taking turns on the Abbeys magnificent Hill organ, recently restored by Principal Pipe Organs, and the digital Regent Classic Skinner style instrument…
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It was on almost the eve of the first lockdown in March 2020 that Richard Goodall and I visited Lambeth Palace Chapel to explore the options for a digital organ there. Here 15 months later is the story of the installation in this most important historic London building, which is also the residence of the…
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I am sure just like me many readers will have wondered when if ever they were going to be able to travel again. We have all become accustomed to ‘managing’ in new ways to run our lives. Customers in significant numbers had been buying organs without visiting to play and explore options. Business meetings that…
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When I came into the warehouse earlier this week I could not believe my eyes. I was greeted with the sight of a Philips Philicorda that we had been asked to scrap when we supplied a new Chorum 20. “What do you want to do with it?” quickly came the question from colleagues, hoping no…
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One of the distinguished organ musicians of his generation, D’Arcy Trinkwon is an acclaimed artist around the world. He has performed more than 1000 recitals in concert halls, cathedral, and churches worldwide, including radio and television appearances. D’Arcy Trinkwon studied at the Royal Northern College of Music (Manchester). In addition to other studies around Europe,…
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If you read our blog or follow us on social media, you will know that we have been able to help a number of young organists over the last year with home practice instruments. The pandemic has prevented many students and organists from using instruments in churches as they would normally do. Our practice instruments…
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Leicester MusicFest was founded in 2016 by a team of professional musicians and teachers who wanted to create more high-quality and accessible performance opportunities for young people and amateur musicians in Leicester. At each festival over 200 musicians take part in a varied programme including concerts, educational workshops and competitions in piano, singing, pipe organ, classical guitar…
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Unusually on a Sunday morning I was sat at home close to my phone when a Facebook Message popped up from Jonathan Eyre (Chapel Organist at Old Royal Naval College) asking if we could provide a hire organ in the Chapel the next day. That might be challenge enough for most companies but the next…
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The musical world is slowly waking up and it was lovely on a very sunny Friday to travel to Cambridge to voice and regulate a Viscount Organ in a very special location. Oxford and Cambridge must due to the large number of college chapels possibly have the greatest number of pipe organs to the square…
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The ailing state of the large Compton Organ at Derby Cathedral is well known in the organ community and so readers will expect this blog to be about a hire triggered by the failure of this instrument. Many will be relieved to learn the Compton limps on and it was the failure of the Cousans…
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