Reports are coming in about the excitement and opportunities that are being generated by the RCO’s Organs in Schools scheme, and the ripple effect into local communities from making a digital organ available to young people.

A celebratory concert by Gerard Brooks to mark the launch of Play the Organ Year 2025 concluded with an enthusiastic audience getting the chance to ‘have a go’ on the spectacular Hill organ in Methodist Central Hall in London.

The RCO Organ Forum in 2024 marked the centenary of Charles Villiers Stanford’s death with a day of discussion and performances at Trinity College, Cambridge, where Stanford spent much of his musical life.

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

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.

The 2023 edition of the College’s research publication, The Journal of the Royal College of Organists, can be downloaded here as a complete edition. It explores the organs of Lincoln Cathedral before 1702, how new organs were commissioned in 19th-century France, the surviving sources of Franck’s Trois Chorals, the solo organ works of South African composer Stefans Grové, and Cecilia McDowall in conversation with RCO Chief Examiner Stephen Farr.

Richard Brasier investigates the sources that are known to have survived of Franck’s Trois Chorals, comparing sketches, engravers’ copies, and fair copies to reveal a wealth of interpretative details.  This article has benefitted from the comprehensive work the author has done to produce a complete edition of Franck’s organ works for Lyrebird Music in recent years.

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

Drew Cantrill-Fenwick traces the processes whereby an organ was build for La Madeleine, Paris, by an increasingly influential Aristide Cavaille-Coll.  His archival research allows us to see, stage by stage, the construction history of this much-lauded instrument.  The project was a multi-disciplinary affaire in which the influence of the artisan was replaced by that of the scholar, the administrator, and the politician.