Organists' Review

27/01/2025

Not long to go until The Incorporated Association of Organists London Organ Day on March 1st! It's going to be huge.

With London Organ Day 2020 we are attempting something slightly different. First, whilst visiting two venues in one day has been done before, it has been some time since we did so.

20/05/2024

📣 Check out the June edition of Organists' Review magazine for an interview with Ad Fontes Executive Producer, Matthew Searles, about our journey so far and what we have in the pipeline!

13/04/2024

We are very sorry to announce the death of our Editor, Professor Francis O’Gorman. As well as being a world-renowned authority on English literature, Francis was a highly respected music writer and critic. In addition, he was a fine and knowledgable organist. We are grateful for all he did for Organists’ Review, and particularly for his series of insightful interviews with so many figures from the organ world.

22/02/2024

IAO-RCO Organ Playing Competition for Young Organists

The competition final will be held in York Minster on Sunday July 28 and the adjudicators are Robert Sharpe, Katelyn Emerson and Sarah MacDonald. The closing date is Thursday February 29.

See here for more details: https://www.rco.org.uk/news_displaystory.php?newsid=379

30/01/2024

Coming soon … and with many thanks to Nigel Kerry for the cover image of the Abbott and Smith organ at Our Lady and the English Martyrs, Cambridge, opened by C.V. Stanford, whose centenary we mark with an essay by Paul Spicer.

04/01/2024

NEWS! HYMN TUNE COMPETITION

OR and the Incorporated Association of Organists invite submissions of a newly composed hymn tune. The deadline is 1 May 2024 and submissions should be sent to [email protected].
The purpose of the competition is to revive some good but under-used words that need a good new tune to increase their popularity. What is ‘good’ is up to the composer to determine.
The winner will receive £200 and publication of their piece in Organists’ Review and its associated social media (though they will, of course, be free to make publication arrangements of their own after this). Submission will be taken as giving OR permission to use the winning composer’s work in this way.
The tune should:

a) set pre-existing metrical words in English from Christian hymnody;
b) be a hymn tune not a worship song;
c) be suitable for congregational singing. It can be in unison or harmony;
d) not have a narrow liturgical appeal (e.g., be for a particular saint’s day) but be more general (that does not rule out it being focused, e.g., a communion hymn, a processional, etc).

There are no other restrictions. The judges reserve the right to request minor alterations to the winning entry.
Entries should be submitted anonymously with a tune name (e.g., ‘Rackingham’) to the Editor who is not involved in the judging. The Editor should also receive separate confirmation of the identity of the person behind the tune name. Composers will only be disclosed to the judges after a winner is decided.
The judges’ decision will be by 1 July and final; the winner will be announced at the IAO Festival in York, July 2024; the winning entry will be published in OR in September 2024.
The judges are:

The Revd Canon Peter Moger, Sub Dean, Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford;
Dr June Nixon, Organist Emerita of St Paul’s Cathedral, Melbourne, Australia;
David Pipe, Deputy Editor, Organists’ Review and Cathedral Organist, Diocese of Leeds;
Robert Sharpe, President of the IAO and Director of Music, York Minster.

We do hope you will consider entering.