The organs of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire
Daniel Moult & Nicholas Wearne
The Royal Birmingham Conservatoire has a long-standing reputation for producing organists of the highest calibre, and a rich history of organ culture. But for years there was one major problem: suitable instruments – or, rather, a lack of them. There was always an aspiration that the quality of the teaching would be matched with responsive and inspiring organs. But, despite some modest acquisitions over the years, the Conservatoire was sadly unable to realise this dream. The arrival of an excellent new organ in St Chad’s Cathedral (built by Walker in 1994) was a significant help for students and staff. But it was the move to a beautiful new building in 2017 which focussed efforts to do something big. A major step was the Conservatoire’s commitment to building a dedicated organ studio, to which the students would have round-the-clock access. It was a blank canvas. But there remained a problem: money – or a lack of it…
The first signs of a new dawn for in-house organ provision were thanks to a very generous donation from the Wolfson Foundation. For the first time in its history, this enabled the Conservatoire to commission an instrument of international quality and significance.
THE WOLFSON ORGAN (Flentrop Orgelbouw, 2021)
This is an organ modelled closely on North-German practice, namely the 1698 Arp Schnitger organ in Dedesdorf. Germany. Unique in the UK for the precision of its stylistic parentage and lack of compromise, this instrument has allowed organ students to learn first-hand about performing the North-German organ repertoire, including the earlier works of J. S. Bach.
