This is an archive of news articles from October 2006. Current news articles can be found here and an archive index can be found here. Information in this archive may no longer be valid.

• 27th October - Handel-inspired chamber organ composition competition
  A new competition has been announced by Paul Ayres, with 500 in prizes along with professional recordings for the winning works. The competition is open to composers of all ages and nationalities who write a new work for chamber organ (one manual, no pedals). The composition should last between one and five minutes, there is no entry fee, and the closing date is the 10th January 2007. For full regulations and guidelines, visit Paul's website here or send a postage-paid, self-addressed envelope to "Handel-Inspired", 12 Bennetts Avenue, Greenford, Middlesex UB6 8AU, United Kingdom
  
  
• 26th October - Long-term plans for Canterbury Cathedral organs announced
  Canterbury Cathedral has announced long-term plans to spend four million pounds on organ projects, as part of a 50m development plan. That money would provide both a new four manual Nave organ and a comprehensive rebuilding and enlargement of the existing Quire organ, both playable from a central console on the quire screen. More details of the whole project here, although the pipe organ part is slightly misleading. The figure of 4 million is also slightly misleading, as it allows for inflation (much of the work is unlikely to start this decade), two essentially new large pipe organs (albeit one including much pipework from the existing instrument), an additional East chorus of pipes, a central console, and all associated building and electrical work.
  
  
• 24th October - American organ news summary
  A new 37 stop Casavant pipe organ has been installed at First Presbyterian Church, Ilion, NY, after a donation of $500,000 from parishioner Robert Oswald Humphrey, who the new organ has been named after. In Hagerstown, MD, St Ann's Catholic Church's new Schantz organ has just been dedicated. And the new Lively-Fulcher organ in Christ Church, Exeter, New Hampshire is being dedicated this Sunday. The church's website has a superb collection of information about the new organ - click here to visit, then click on [liturgy and music] then "the lively-fulcher organ" on the left-hand side.
  
  The MP Mller organ formerly in Pennsylvania Convention Hall, recently demolished by the University of Pennslvania to make way for a new clinic, has found a new home some 1,400 miles away in Oklahoma. The University of Oklahoma will house the organ in the Catlett Music Center's Paul F. Sharp Concert Hall, as part of a new study centre called the American Organ Institute.
  
  And finally... another new Schantz has been installed at First Congregational UCC, Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and voicing is nearly complete. Pics here on the Pastor's blog.
  
  
• 20th October - New Carsten Lund organ installed in Trinity Hall, Cambridge
  Danish organbuilder Carsten Lund's first UK organ has just been installed in Trinity Hall College Chapel, Cambridge, and was dedicated on the 15th of October by the Bishop of Norwich. The opportunity has been taken to improve the acoustics of the chapel, including a new gallery balustrade designed by Trinity Hall alumnus Tristan Rees Roberts. As the gallery is of fairly shallow height, the new balustrade will give much better tonal egress than the previous solid oak panelling. David Sanger was the consultant, and the organ replaces a IIP/15 1981 Johnson organ, which in turn replaced an early 20th century IIP/6 Harrison and Harrison. More details and a small picture here.

  Specification: Trinity Hall, Cambridge
  Great		Swell
  Bordun Principal Rohrflute Octave Cone Flute Quinte 22/3' Octave Tierce 13/5'	16' 8' 8' 4' 4' 22/3' 2' 13/5'	Gamba Flauto Traverso Fugara Gedakt Gemshorn Mixtur Oboe	8' 8' 4' 4' 2' III 8'
  Pedal		Accessories
  Subbass Bordun (Great) Principal (Great) Gedackt (ext Subbass) Fagotto	16' 16' 8' 8' 16'	Swell to Great Swell Suboctave to Great Great to Pedal Swell to Pedal Swell Octave to Pedal Tremulant to Swell Mobile Ventus (Flexible Wind) stop Multi-level combination action

  
  
  
• 18th October - Organ Building 2006 published
  The IBO's annual publication describing British organ builders' work over the past year is now out. As well as details of some recent projects, there are articles on restoration approaches, organ acoustics, manufacturing case pipes and a reflection on 25 years of Goetze and Gwynn.
  
  
• 9th October - Tewkesbury Abbey receives bequest for music
  Michael Peterson, a former church organist who lived in Tewkesbury, left his house and an additional 400,000 to Tewkesbury Abbey when he died earlier this year. The money will benefit the Choral Scholarship fund, and the proceeds from a sale of his house must go towards the upkeep of the abbey's musical needs. More details here.
  
  Pictured right is the Milton organ at Tewkesbury Abbey.
  
  
• 5th October - New Berghaus organ dedicated at St Stephen's Lutheran, Beaver Dam, WI
  The new Berghaus organ of St Stephen's Evangelical Lutheran Church in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, USA was dedicated on September 17th, only two years after the church's search for a new organ began. Organist Darik Mischke describes the process that led to the commissioning of a new pipe organ. "Our old organ had a lot of electrical problems - it would sometimes stop playing mid-service. We wanted an authentic sound, and an instrument that could last for hundreds of years, like many European organs".
  
  Under the guidance of organ consultant Dr Edward Meyer, the organ committee chose an organ from Berghaus, the specification of which is below. "We're very pleased" continues Mischke. "[Berghaus paid] great attention to detail, and weren't satisfied until everything was just right". And the dedication service? "You had to be there! With a packed church and massed choirs..." Sounds like the danger of unintentional silences should be a thing of the past at St Stephen's.
  
  
  

  Specification: St Stephen's Lutheran, Beaver Dam, WI
  Great		Swell
  Pommer Principal (in faade) Gemshorn (in faade) Rohrflte Octave Spillflte Quinte 22/3' Octave Terz 13/5' Mixture 11/3' Trompete	16' 8' 8' 8' 4' 4' 22/3' 2' 13/5' IV (11/3') 8'	Salicional Celeste (tc) Metalgedackt Principal Traverseflte Blockflte Klein Nasat11/3' Scharf Fagott (half length) Trompette Schalmei	8' 8' 8' 4' 4' 2' 11/3' IV (2') 16' 8' 8'
  Pedal		Accessories
  Resultant Principal (in faade) Subbass Pommer Octave Gemshorn (in faade) Gedackt Choralbass Mixture 22/3' Posaune Fagott Trompete Schalmei	32' 16' 16' 16' 8' 8' 8' 4' 22/3' 16' 16' 8' 4'	Swell to Great (16', 8' & 4') Swell to Swell (16', 4' and unison off) Tremulants to Great and Swell Zimbelstern and Chimes Crescendo pedal and Sforzando piston MIDI to all manuals with recording facility 99-level combination action

  

• 5th October - News from CB Fisk
  The Orange County Performing Arts Center in California currently has the faade of a Fisk, but the rest will now follow after the announcement of a $2.5 million gift from arts philanthropist William J. Gillespie of Laguna Beach. Meanwhile a more modest Fisk organ, if one with a 16' Montre can be called modest, can be viewed in Fisk's shop in Gloucester, MA on Saturday 14th October. The organ will soon be gracing Lexington Presbyterian Church in Virginia. Details of all these organs and the open day are on Fisk's website.
  
  
• 5th October - News round-up
  We hear from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport that the Listed Places of Worship programme has effectively refunded 50 million pounds of VAT over the past five years. This is of interest to the organ world as Gordon Brown extended the scheme in the last Budget to cover some fixtures such as pipe organs. The scheme currently runs until 2011, although any listed churches with an interest in restoring or repairing their pipe organs would be well advised not to delay, as the programme may be replaced before then with a Europe-wide agreement for a 5% VAT rate on such repairs - still better than 17.5% though.