The Welling­ton Town Hall is rat­ed amongst the top ten in the world for acoustics [cita­tion need­ed], and this was a sig­nif­i­cant argu­ment in the 1970s and 80s when the demo­li­tion of the Town Hall became a pos­si­bil­i­ty.  The organ in the town hall is 104 or so years old and is reknowned world­wide for being one of the few Edwar­dian organs in the world that has sur­vived to the present day with­out alter­ation.

organ

Once again Welling­ton City Coun­cil is run­ning a free Organ Con­cert Series on Sun­day after­noons fea­tur­ing our City Organ­ist, Dou­glas Mews, and oth­er guests. After a spell in Europe check­ing out a myr­i­ad of baroque instru­ments and play­ing the occa­sion­al organ recital, Dou­glas says he’ll be full of inspi­ra­tion and enthu­si­asm for his con­certs on Sun­day 9 August and 6 Sep­tem­ber.

[the details after the jump]

Pro­gramme:

Sun­day 14th June – Basi­cal­ly British – Guest Organ­ist: Mar­tin Setchell

WHOOPS MISSED THAT ONE!

Christchurch Town Hall organ cura­tor Mar­tin Setchell enter­tains with the best of British music – cel­e­brat­ing the anniver­saries of two great com­posers with Pur­cell dances, trum­pet tunes and Handel’s Over­ture to the Occa­sion­al Ora­to­rio.

Sun­day 9th August – Vive la France! – Dou­glas Mews with Young Guest Per­former: Tom Gaynor

Colour and vir­tu­os­i­ty are the fore in this French feast. Items include Gigout’s Scher­zo, Franck’s Grande Piece Sym­phonique and Balbastre’s Vari­a­tions on La Mar­seil­laise. Also per­form­ing will be 18 year-old Tom Gaynor, NZSM stu­dent and Richard Prothero Organ Schol­ar at St Paul’s Cathe­dral.

Sun­day 6th Sep­tem­ber – Ger­ma­nia – Dou­glas Mews with Young Guest Per­former: Heather East­ing

Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries and Pre­lude to the Meis­tersingers are bal­anced against J.S. Bach’s G major Pre­lude and Fugue BWV 541 in this dis­play of Ger­man heavy­weights. Mak­ing a spe­cial appear­ance is 17 year-old Welling­ton organ­ist Heather East­ing, NZSM stu­dent and Dean’s Organ Schol­ar at St Paul’s Cathe­dral.

Cost: FREE