Pieter Shaw discovered a wonderful Schnitger organ in a local church in Bellingwolde, close to the Dutch/German border, and then was delighted to be offered the post of organist there. He tells StopPress about the instrument and the role of the organist in the Netherlands.

Retiring in 2009 to his home county of Yorkshire, David Baker became involved in the local organ scene, but found both organ playing and teaching in a sorry state. Determined to do something about this he founded the Halifax Organ Academy, which has big plans for the future as it celebrates its tenth anniversary.

Before her death last year, Jennifer Bate made specific requests for a memorial concert in her name. This event has just been announced, and it will also include the posthumous presentation of the RCO Medal to Jennifer, in recognition of her contributions to organ performance and teaching.

The aim of interNational Organ Day in April 2021 was to restore the organ in the public’s consciousness to its former position central to music making across the world. The celebrations went online with the onset of lockdown, and they can still be enjoyed via YouTube. Here’s how The Organ Show was born, with links to some notable highlights.

Back in 2018 we reported on a Liverpool school with ambitions for its historic, but neglected school organ. Almost three years on, we can now report on the success of their project not only to completely restore their Father Willis instrument, but to create a system of organ scholarships for teenage organists from the school.

Our twice-yearly print publication, RCO News, contains a new series.  We’ve asked younger members of the College to give us their perspective on learning the organ, and tell us of their concerns as they develop their skills and careers as musicians in the twenty-first century, and teenage organist Anna Hallett has written the first article for us.

The June 2021 edition of the College’s bi-annual magazine can be downloaded by RCO Members here in pdf format.

On Sunday 7 March, the eve of International Women’s Day, organists (and a few choirs too) took to social media to celebrate Woman Composer Sunday, a joint initiative by the Society of Women Organists and the RCO.  Organists were asked to perform a piece of music by a woman composer that day, and post it to Twitter, Facebook or YouTube. StopPress reports on the inspiring results.

The RCO’s first-ever Winter Conference this February was devised as the pandemic lockdown continued to prove a barrier to organists and organ enthusiasts getting together in person.  RCO Director Simon Williams decided to build on the experience through 2020 of putting all the major RCO courses online, with a new format – a complete virtual conference, with seminars, presentations, recitals, a keynote speech and a trade show. Over 200 people attended the three day event, including StopPress Editor, Morwenna Campbell-Smith, who writes this report.