Those of us who attended the RCO/Cinema Organ Society Organ Day at the Troxy Cinema in London’s East End last January are aware of the skills of organists like Richard Hills FRCO – equally at home on the classical as well as the cinema organ. Now, a year on, another celebrated classical organist will step up to the Troxy Wurlitzer – Thomas Trotter gives his first concert on the cinema organ this coming January, in the company of Simon Gledhill. We look at the legacy of other crossover artists in the organ world.

How did Olivier Messiaen combine the creative life with the conventions and strictures of his role as organist? And how can that help us understand and perform his music? In this year’s RCO Organ Forum at the Royal Academy of Music, Artistic Director Robert Sholl brought together academic and performance experts to answer these questions, in a celebration of Messiaen’s work held in this, the twenty-fifth anniversary of the composers’ death.

The College was a partner in the inaugural Guildhall Organ Festival in Derry-Londonderry at the end of October. A packed programme over three days was led by artistic director Catherine Ennis, supported by Daniel Moult, using the three-manual Hill organ in the Guildhall as the centrepiece, and included workshops, concerts, music for traditional Irish instruments with the organ, and a Battle of the Organs, featuring Sir Roger Gifford on recorder.

The Royal Hospital School in Holbrook is offering the opportunity to join an organ masterclass and play a unique 1930s instrument in a splendid acoustic – the 1933 Hill Norman & Beard organ in the school chapel, which is one of the few instruments from that time which hasn’t been altered from the original tonal design. The master classes follow a series of Monday organ recitals, between 2.30 and 3.30pm. Anyone of any standard can apply, with repertoire that relates to the recital.

The Royal School of Church Music is running a workshop to give church musicians the chance to bridge the gap between worship styles and find ways of combining organ and band in church music. It includes practical teaching and the opportunity to work with a live band, and will be held at St Michael’s Chester Square, in London, on 4 November 2017.

The Royal College of Organists marked the 100th birthday of Dr Francis Jackson CBE a couple of weeks ago with a special event in conjunction with York Minster, where Dr Jackson directed the music with great distinction for 36 years. Guests included the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, and Katharine, Duchess of Kent, and tributes to Jackson as organist, choral director and composer, came from around the world.

The Father Willis at the Union Chapel in Islington, North London, will be centre stage in a three-day event next week, as Organ Reframed challenges artists and audiences to rethink the organ. The festival, from 13th to 15th October 2017, features eight new commissions, and rare performances from musicians and artists from the UK, US and Canada.

Sebastian Heindl, aged 19, has won the Senior section of the Northern Ireland International Organ Competition (NIIOC), which took place in August on the Walker organ in St Patrick’s Church of Ireland Cathedral, Armagh. Applications for the competition, for organists aged 21 and under, were received from Hong Kong, China, France, Germany, Poland, Budapest, Slovakia, Lithuania, Canada, UK and Ireland. RCO Student Members were among the prize-winners: Thomas Trotter comments on the experience of chairing the competition jury.

See you again next year! was the verdict of many students on two of the RCO’s flagship courses – The Organ Scholar Experience, this year based around the colleges and organs of Oxford, and the Summer Course, with over fifty organists rushing from their base in St Giles, Cripplegate around the City of London’s churches, for classes, private practice, and performance.