In 2019 the European Cities of Historical Organs (ECHO), an association of nine cities with historic organs in nine EU countries, adjudicated on a competition for a project to introduce children to the organ.  The winners were a pair of British musicians, the Scott Brothers Duo.  Jonathan Scott tells us about their winning project, and how they have been able to continue to work through the Covid-19 lockdown across Europe.

Not every organ possesses a Zimbelstern, but this ‘toy stop’ has been a popular addition to organs for hundreds of years. John Kitchen, Edinburgh City Organist, suggests how and when you might use it, demonstrating on the organ of Old St Paul’s Episcopal Church, Edinburgh.

Katherine Dienes-Williams, a Trustee of the RCO and also Organist and Master of the Choristers at Guildford Cathedral, hears from RCO Members about how playing the organ has changed their lives, and what membership of the RCO has meant to them.

Organist Kevin Bowyer gave the first UK performance of Xenakis’ organ piece Gmeeorh. He discusses aspects of performing this remarkable piece, with excerpts played at the organ of St Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue, New York City.

The art of accompanying a choir, and conducting (or ‘waving’) at the same time, is explored by Simon Williams, a Director of the RCO, and also Director of Music of Harrow Choral Society.

A benefit of our new reciprocal membership arrangement with the American Guild of Organists is free access to their journal The American Organist. We look at the magazine in more detail, and also preview a new addition to our choral and conducting resources on iRCO: two films on working with orchestras from conductor Nicholas Cleobury. 

Conductor Nicholas Cleobury looks at the differences between conducting a capella, and working with orchestras.  In two films he discusses conducting skills, and how to prepare a score for performance, using Haydn’s Little Organ Mass as an example.

Director of Oundle for Organists, Ann Elise Smoot, explains how the Organ Voluntary developed as a new form of organ music, in the context of the new liturgy of the Protestant Reformation in sixteenth-century England.

RCO Chief Examiner, Stephen Farr, discusses the significance of Urtext Editions for the practical performer, and comments on the issues surrounding them.