The College’s bi-annual magazine for members contains features, details of forthcoming events and courses, and general news and views from the RCO.

In the summer of 2022, James Lloyd Thomas set off for Nigeria.  He was following in the footsteps of other RCO tutors over the years, to spend a week with the organists and choristers in the Lagos cathedrals and churches, coaching them in the English cathedral traditions of organ-playing and singing.

Services, ceremonies and other performances are increasingly being made available to see and hear via the internet. Whether the performance is being broadcast live for a single live viewing, or subsequently made available for ‘catch-up’ viewing, our partners at the Musicians’ Union publish recommended minimum rates.

Organists Daniel Moult and Martin Schmeding provide an introduction to the issues surrounding the nature, history and performance practice of Bach’s organ works. They discuss the philosophical as well as musical arguments around how we should play Bach today, demonstrating on organs in Central Germany of Bach’s time.

In this film Franck and Performance Practice on the Organ, Joris Verdin demonstrates how to play Franck’s music in a historically informed manner.

A recorded conversation between RCO President David Hill and Dame Gillian Weir, originally presented during the Cambridge Summer Music Festival 2022.  Dame Gillian discusses her distinguished career as a concert organist and recording artist, illustrated with extracts from her various recordings. 

The public were quick to show their appreciation of all the music that underpinned the services marking the passing of Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. We look at the contributions made in particular by organists, choral directors and composers, including those associated with the RCO from its earliest days.

The Royal College of Organists mourns the passing of its patron Her Majesty The Queen, and remembers in particular her presence at the College’s 150th Anniversary celebrations.

Bach’s Orgelbüchlein (or Little Organ Book) was left incomplete on his death. Now contemporary composers have been comissioned to fill in the 118 missing pieces, and the completed Orgelbüchlein Project will have its UK premiere this September.