About Us

Activities

Club Tour 2013 Edinburgh. 1998 Frobenius organ (2/20), Kirk of the Canongate (Photo: R Blanch)

Each year, the Club:

• organizes regular visits to towns and cities in the UK to see, hear and play interesting organs;
• organizes a major annual tour in the UK or abroad;
• organizes the annual London Organ Competition for teenagers;
• hosts an annual lunch with a guest speaker from the organ world;
• arranges a distinguished recitalist for the Annual General Meeting (AGM);
• invites eminent organists to give masterclasses;
• publishes three copiously-illustrated issues of The Organ Club Journal;
• publishes a bi-monthly newsletter;
• maintains this website, and also a Facebook page.

The regular meetings are a major Club activity and every effort is made to ensure that these visits take in different parts of the UK.

Lectures and Seminars

Lectures sponsored by the Club form an important part of its educational activity. Past speakers and topics have included Trevor Ford (use of language in music), Simon Lindley (the importance of the organ as an instrument), Gerard Brooks (playing French music on English organs), Stephen D Smith (Atlantic City Convention Hall Organ), Malcolm Riley (the life & works of Percy Whitlock), Dame Gillian Weir (French music), and Stephen Cleobury (accompaniment).

Commissions

Student member, Sam Jones, playing the Walker organ at St Mary’s, Wargrave (August meeting 2017)

Several musical works commissioned by, or written for, the Club have been published and have found a place in the organ repertoire. They include Kenneth Leighton’s “Paean” and his organ duet “Martyrs”; “Fantasia” Op.92 by Sir Lennox Berkeley, and “Wild Bells” by Michael Berkeley. For the Club’s 75th Anniversary, a commission was given to Nigel Allcoat. His work “A Little Organ Suite” was premiered by John Scott at St. Paul’s Cathedral in August 2001.

Celebrity Recitals

Many important recitals have been promoted by the Club. These have included Bedrich Janacek at St Paul’s Cathedral on the 50th anniversary of the death of Father Willis; Messiaen’s 70th birthday (Stephen Cleobury at Westminster Abbey) and Howells’ 90th (Christopher Dearnley at St Paul’s Cathedral). Notable Club anniversaries have been celebrated with highly successful concerts by Simon Preston and Nicolas Kynaston at the Royal Festival Hall, Dame Gillian Weir at Westminster Abbey and John Scott at St. Paul’s. Every March, the annual recital at the AGM is given by a well-known organist.

Organ Club Archive

Click here for details of the Organ Club Archive, available as a download or on a CD.