After the fire at Notre Dame, it was a relief to see images of Notre-Dame’s Cavaillé-Coll organ seemingly intact, and millions of euros have been pledged already for restoration of the Cathedral, and presumably, the organ. There are other Cavaillé-Coll instruments in France deserving of restoration though, and film-maker Will Fraser has devised a way we can all help bring back to life a particularly good example of Aristide Cavaillé-Coll’s artistry.

The RCO’s Wingfield Organ is now in residence at St Mary’s Church in Fotheringhay – all very appropriate, as both instrument and church are fascinating medieval survivors. Fotheringhay will be the setting for a special concert on Saturday 25 May exploring the vocal and organ music of late medieval England, with David Skinner and The Alamire Scholars, organist James Parsons, and historian Dr David Starkey providing the spoken narrative.

Watch the College’s 2019 Conferment of Diplomas ceremony in full or as edited highlights. The ceremony at Southwark Cathedral on Saturday 9th March saw the College present Diplomas and Certificates to 53 Members of the College, and award the Medal of the Royal College of Organists to two distinguished practitioners in the field of organ music.

Listen to the Ede & Ravenscroft Recital which closed the College’s 2019 Conferment of Diplomas ceremony performed by Steven Grahl, including music by York Bowen, Huw Watkins, Percy Whitlock, Judith Bingham and Oskar Lindberg.

Charles Tournemire’s (1870–1939) L’Orgue Mystique is a cycle of solo organ pieces composed for use in the Roman Catholic liturgy. Tournemire wanted to do for the Roman Catholic Mass what Bach had done for the Lutheran Mass with his Orgelbüchlein. The completed work is subtitled ’51 Offices of the liturgical year inspired by Gregorian chant and freely paraphrased’, and Westminster Cathedral have begun a performance of the complete cycle (13 hours of music in its entirety) in a liturgical context: Martin Baker, Peter Stevens, Jonathan Allsopp and Adrian Gunning are among the organists taking part.

Even in a big city like London, it can be difficult to find organ practice facilities. The United Grand Lodge of England have recently restored and enlarged the 1933 Henry Willis organ in the Grand Temple at Freemasons’ Hall, and also installed a new three-manual and pedal Viscount Classic digital organ one of their meeting rooms there. They are generously offering practice time on these organs free of charge to RCO Members.

Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers (c.1632–1714) was by far the most sophisticated of the French organ composers of the 1660s and 70s. His keyboard music, with that of Nicolas Lebègue, provided the foundation for the great flowering of the late seventeenth century (principally Jacques Boyvin, François Couperin, and Nicolas de Grigny) and the novelties of the early eighteenth […]

The RCO’s big Summer Course really does cater for all levels of playing – everyone gets an individual tailored timetable to suit their needs and abilities, and many people come back year after year as their playing progresses. Booking has opened for the 2019 Course. Read the experiences of three students in previous years, all at very different levels of ability.

A project to engage young children with the pipe organ heritage of the Netherlands has created a global network of organisations allowing children to build and play a two-octave mechanical action organ. The original organ design by Wim Janssens is now being reproduced by professional organ builders in the Netherlands, the USA, Canada, Sweden, and now the UK, as part of the Orgelkids project world-wide.