2024 is an anniversary year for both Sir Charles Villiers Stanford, and Sir Walter Parratt, a close friend and colleague of Stanford. This article by Andrew McCrea mainly looks at Parratt, a famous organist and teacher, through the Stanford association, and argues that inspecting Stanford’s dedications to Parratt can enrich our understanding of these two national figures.

Maria Jenner marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of Franz Schmidt (1874–1939) as she views this significant Austrian composer through the lens of two of his most important pupils: Susi Jeans (née Hock) and Friedrich Mihatsch.

The College promotes an awareness of today’s music through the examination syllabuses, and some of Cecilia McDowall’s organ works have been set for study at ARCO in 2024-5.  The composer reveals her influences, inspirations and motivations in a fascinating interview with RCO Chief Examiner Stephen Farr, who gave the first performance of her First Flight in 2021.

Find inspiration for Woman Composer Sunday, on 10 March, with these resources from the RCO and partner organisations.

Engaging programming features in this year’s two BBC Proms organ concerts, with an international mix of performers and composers.

The Coronation Service at Westminster Abbey on 6 May combined music from 350 years of church and royal tradition with many new commissions, all personally selected by The King.

Organists around the world celebrated International Organ Day 2023 with events, classes and demonstrations, posting films and pictures on social media throughout the day. We report on all the activities, culminating in the broadcast of The Organ Show-Live! on our YouTube channel.

Tom Winpenny has recorded much of Francis Pott’s music, and this richly illustrated article on the organ works of Francis Pott is filled with an interpreter’s insights. Pott’s compositions are ‘revelatory creations of intellectual rigour and profound humanity,’ says Winpenny, and in his commentary and music examples we become absorbed in Pott’s preoccupations and motivations.

In ‘Michael Tippett’s shorter choral music: some personal reflections’, Nicholas Cleobury has distilled his work on, and with, Tippett over many years into an engaging commentary on some wonderful but often forgotten music.