Monthly Archives: May 2015

St Alfege, Greenwich: Assistant Organist Required

The Church of St Alfege in Greenwich, is looking for an assistant organist from September. Details of the post can be seen here: http://www.stalfegechoir.org.uk/assistant-organist/.

Details of the organ are at: http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=E00392

 

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Upcoming courses

Two Royal College of Organists upcoming courses worth signing up for:
27th June: Improvisation
18th July: JS Bach (Oxford)
Both the above classes are for all standards.

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Organ Recital at Westgate Chapel, Wakefield, 29 May, 2015

Professor David Baker will be giving the lunchtime organ recital at Wainsgate Chapel, Wakefield, commencing at 1300 on 29 May. His programme will be as follows:

Toccata                                                                                  Theodore Dubois

Solemn Melody                                                                    Henry Walford Davies 

Variations on ‘God save the King’                                    Charles Wesley

Toccata in B minor                                                              Eugène Gigout

Humoresque                                                                         Pietro  Yon

Lied                                                                                        Louis Vierne

Two Chorale Preludes: ‘Wir glauben all’                         Johann Sebastian Bach

Rhosymedre                                                                         Ralph Vaughan Williams

Toccata                                                                                  Charles-Marie Widor

For further information  and details of location, go to http://www.ukunitarians.org.uk/wakefield/index.htm

SONY DSC

SONY DSC

 

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Pipe Organ Free to Good Home

The owner of a redundant Methodist Church is looking to get rid of its pipe organ. The instrument is at Old Town Methodist Church near Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire. Details are at http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=G01483

 

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National Pipe Organ Register (NPOR) – Appeal for Donations

The Chairman of the British Institute of Organ Studies writes:

The National Pipe Organ Register

Appeal for donations 

You may be surprised to learn that the NPOR’s extensive coverage of British organs, a free public resource set up and managed by BIOS, is unmatched by any other country worldwide.  Dr Mike Sayers set up the database in 1990 and has served it with devotion and technical virtuosity ever since.*  A team of volunteer editors continues to extend and refine the Register with the ultimate ambition of cataloguing every organ in the land.

However, it is becoming a major financial challenge to manage the constant incoming flow of information (a task efficiently performed by the Royal College of Organists on behalf of BIOS) and to maintain the database.  Outside grants, that in the early days helped in getting the NPOR set up and established, are no longer available for the continuing expense of day-to-day running, and after Mike Sayers’s imminent retirement the website will no longer continue to be hosted and maintained free of charge.  BIOS is responsible for all of these annual costs, which are estimated at £8,500 for 2015 and will absorb more than one third of our annual income.

The Register now lists the specifications of over 35,000 organs and each month receives an average of more than 20,000 file searches which bring up a total of over 40,000 surveys.  BIOS is committed to maintaining free access to the NPOR for all users, but its funds are limited and we have to face the fact that these unavoidable costs cannot be sustained beyond the short term. That is why I am writing to ask whether you or your Association would consider signing up to contribute on a regular basis to a new Fund which BIOS has set up to provide finance for the NPOR.  We believe this cause deserves the wholehearted support of all who are involved in the British organ world, especially those who use the Register on a regular basis and who are directly involved in the world of the pipe organ whether as builders, performers or listeners. Single donations will of course be welcome at any time but our greatest need, for the sake of future security, is to find supporters who are willing to take out a Standing Order and donate to the NPOR on a regular basis.  May I invite you to sign up for a regular contribution?

Donations will be gratefully received at any level and should be sent to Adrian Mumford, BIOS Treasurer, using one of the two attached downloadable forms (Standing Order or Single Donation). The address is on the form. It is suggested that local associations might perhaps be able to sign up for £15 or £20 per annum.  Individuals or associations able to offer larger sums will be enrolled annually in the following categories:

Friends (donation £50 or more)

Donors (£100 or more)

Benefactors (£250 or more)

Patrons £500 or more)

BIOS Council will be very pleased to acknowledge such donations by posting on the NPOR website a roll of these major supporters, unless they request otherwise.  If you have any questions about the NPOR or about this appeal, you are welcome to get in touch with the BIOS Treasurer, Adrian Mumford, treasurer@bios.org.uk or the NPOR Manager, Andrew Macintosh, npor@bios.org.uk. I do hope you will feel able to help us keep NPOR alive and moving forward.

Alan Thurlow

Chairman

 

*     Mike Sayers has written an interesting account of the history of the NPOR in BIOS Journal 36:

http://www.npor.org.uk/NPOR1992to2012.pdf

A standing order form is attached below:

BIOS – standing order – 7 – FINAL

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Two inspirational courses for Organists – all ages and standards

 

Places are still available on two inspirational courses organised by the Organ Club:

                                                                                                                                     

 Schnitger and Schnitzels in Hamburg (24 to 27 August)

and

Warmington Organ Weekend in Northamptonshire (11 to 13 September)

 

Two colourful Attachments tell more.

Both are offered at a very competitive price and promise a really warm welcome to organists of all ages and standards.

 

Hamburg – join us in 2015( 1)

join us at WOW!

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Organ Scholarship at Leeds College of Music

Leeds College of Music are offering a scholarship for an organist to study on their  Masters programme, starting September 2015. The deadline for applications to the Masters programme is 31 August 2015. The scholarship is offered in association with St Andrews United Reform Church, Roundhay, Leeds, where the candidate would work as church organist in addition to their studies. Details of the award are available here: http://www.lcm.ac.uk/Documents-Downloads/How-to-apply/Rodney-Green-Organ-Scholarship-2015.aspx

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Donald MacKenzie at St Giles’, Pontefract, 23 May

Saturday 23rd May  -Donald MacKenzie, of the Odeon Leicester Square, London, will be playing at St Giles’ church Pontefract and accompanying the silent film “Steam Boat Bill Jnr” on the church organ.  Click for a  Poster of the event.

 

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