This is an archive of news articles from July 2004. Current news articles can be found here and an archive index can be found here. Information in this archive may no longer be valid.

• Walt Disney Hall organ premire
  The Rosales / Glatter-Gtz organ in the Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, received a warm reception from its inaugural audience of attendees at the American Guild of Organists' 2004 convention. The organ is perhaps best known for its innovative faade of curved wooden pipes, designed by the hall's architect Frank Gehry in conjunction with organbuilder Manuel Rosales. Details of the organ are available on the Glatter-Gtz website here, and the AGO website has more information and brief videos available here
  
  
• Hiccups at the Royal Albert Hall
  Readers will be glad to hear that the apparent failure of the newly restored RAH organ (see news item below) at a recent Prom was a simple electrical supply fault and nothing to do with recent work on the organ. Measures are being taken to prevent reoccurrence.
  
  
• Jean Boyer
  Talented French organist Jean Boyer died recently at the age of 56 from leukemia. He was titular organist at two significant churches in Toulouse, and followed his teacher Xavier Darasse as organ professor at Lyon Conservatory. His recordings of Brahms' organ works and a variety of lesser-known composers were well received, perhaps because Boyer recorded only rarely, preferring live performance. More about Boyer can be found on two websites: here and here.
  
  
• Royal Albert Hall organ reopens
  Thousands of music lovers gathered at the Royal Albert Hall (pictured) in London on June 26th to hear the inaugural concert of the newly restored Willis/Harrison instrument, restored over the last two years by Manders of London. The critical response was largely positive - the organ now has the reserves of wind necessary to support both its grand choruses and subtler textures. It is now possible to compete with, and possibly overwhelm, massed orchestral forces, and the performers on the opening night demonstrated both the potential and pitfalls of this new lease of life. Manders are to be congratulated on a difficult job that has been both conservatively and innovatively carried out.
  
  
• Two school organs to be rebuilt by GO-Organs
  GO-Organs of Liverpool will shortly start work on the rebuilding of two famous early 20th century English school organs: the Blue Coat School of Wavertree in Liverpool, and the Willis/Walker of Giggleswick School in North Yorkshire.
  
  
• Willis move into St Anne Street
  Following the demise of Rushworth and Dreaper, Henry Willis & Sons have moved into their attractive Victorian works, only a short distance from the first Willis factory in Liverpool. A photograph and more details can be found here, or you can see the picture in their advert on page 18 of The Organ (May 2004).