The Essex Organists’ Association invites organists from beginners to advanced, and whether RCO Members or not, to take part in their annual organ competition this Spring. The winner of the Advanced class will be given the opportunity to perform a pre-Sunday Evensong recital in Chelmsford Cathedral.

The 2017 edition of the College’s annual research publication, The Journal of the Royal College of Organists, can be downloaded here as a complete edition.

Peter Woodward came to organ playing late in life. It was unexpected, but the involvement with the instrument and its music has been transforming. Here’s the story in his own words – how on the death of his wife Mary he took up the piano and then the organ, and followed her in attending the RCO’s big Summer Course for the last three years.

Andrew Forbes discusses the nature of virtuosity, and how to overcome the frustrations of mastering a piece which is on the edge of your own current capabilities.

Leicester MusicFest 2018 welcomes amateur organists of all ages and abilities to showcase their talents in two competition classes in their annual pipe organ competition which takes place on the afternoon of Saturday 10th February 2018, on the Peter Collins organ in the St Cecilia Auditorium at English Martyrs Catholic School in Leicester.

Max Reger’s great first compositional period ended with his Second Sonata for Organ, Opus 60, written in 1901 at the time of his move from Weiden to Munich. It is a good introduction to his work, because it is concise, but has a lot of variation of form and technique.

On his move to Munich in 1901, Max Reger’s music, even by his standards, became more involved and difficult, and the signature work from this time is his set of variations on a theme by Bach, one of six great sets of variations he wrote. This work was written for piano, but conductor Ira Levin, using Reger’s own orchestration of his Beethoven Variations as an inspiration, has orchestrated the work.

This documentary film attempts to prise open Reger’s music, to equate it with his biography and the context of his life, and to combine discussion of his music with footage of performers playing excerpts from major works in many forms – lieder, orchestral and instrumental works, and the organ music from his great Weiden period of 1898 to 1901.

Westminster Cathedral’s Grand Organ Festival 2017 ended on Wednesday 29 November with a recital by the Cathedral’s Master of Music, Martin Baker. In his role as RCO President, Martin arranged for this also to be an occasion for members of the College’s Anniversary Circle and other supporters to enjoy a pre-concert talk and post-concert reception in the atmospheric surroundings of the Clergy House Library.