Children build an organ – the Orgelkids project
January 30, 2019
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.
Read MoreNew Year, new repertoire
January 20, 2019
One of the more pleasurable of New Year resolutions is to decide to expand our repertoire and learn new pieces, and there's help here on iRCO, with no fewer than ten short videos on organ repertoire, presented by experts in their field. Each one provides inspiration on a different century, or a different musical culture, with advice on appropriate registration, style and performance.
Read MoreLessons on the road to ARCO
January 13, 2019
Jonathan Davies regards achieving the ARCO qualification as his greatest personal achievement, though it was a long road from just wanting to play flashy pieces on the organ to acquiring the musicianship needed to qualify. He describes some of the techniques which led to final success, for the benefit of anyone else contemplating this examination.
Read MoreFilm improvisation explained at the 2019 East of England Organ Day
January 2, 2019
The 2019 East of England Organ Day celebrates the world of film in May, with concerts of cinematic repertoire for the organ, and improvisations, featuring the majestic 1933 Grand Organ in the Chapel of the Royal Hospital School, Holbrook, in Suffolk. School organist David Pickthall will create live, spontaneous soundtracks at the piano to two short Harold Lloyd films - here he explains the techniques that both pianists and organists can use to improvise to live films.
Read MoreWednesdays at 5.55 – organ recitals at the Royal Festival Hall
December 6, 2018
Go with organist colleagues to an organ recital at the Royal Festival Hall, and sooner or later someone will strike up a nostalgic lament for Wednesdays at 5.55. Harry Hoyle has just published a history of this extraordinary series of weekly organ recitals on the RFH organ, which lasted for 34 years. His engaging account will interest both organists and anyone fascinated by the social history of classical music performance in the second half of the twentieth century.
Read MoreKing’s College, Cambridge, and an English singing style
November 24, 2018
The sound of the Choir of King's College, Cambridge has become fixed in the public consciousness as the quintessence of English cathedral singing: epitomised by The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols each December. However the assumption that this singing style continues a tradition inherited from the Middle Ages could hardly be further from the truth. It took a revolution in social and musical attitudes in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, for the "terrible roughness" of cathedral singing up to then to be transformed, as Timothy Day shows in his book I Saw Eternity the Other Night - King's College Cambridge and an English Singing Style, just published by Allen Lane.
Read MoreBuilding choir training skills in the East Midlands – a New Year workshop
November 9, 2018
If your New Year resolutions are likely to include improving your conducting or choral training skills, then book now for a workshop coming up in early February. Conductors with wide experience or with none are invited to spend a day with David Hill, Musical Director of The Bach Choir and former Chief Conductor of the BBC Singers, at an RCO choir training workshop on Saturday 2nd February 2019.
Read MoreBringing young people to the organ – a European competition
September 28, 2018
Nine European cities with a heritage of historic organs invite entries for a competition to devise an organ-related musical event to bring young people to the instrument. The winning project will be performed at organ festivals around Europe next year, and the deadline for entries is the end of December 2018.
Read MoreFather Willis gets the rock-star treatment – Organ Reframed 2018
September 13, 2018
The powerfully Gothic surroundings of James Cubitt's Union Chapel in north London are the setting for the third Organ Reframed this October, where the 1877 Henry Willis organ will star in a festival designed to introduce new artists and new audiences to its versatility. Booking has opened for the only event of its kind in the UK: Organ Reframed focuses on commissioning new music from composers at the contemporary cutting edge to firmly embed a 19th century instrument in the music of the 21st century.
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