Projects of significant interest
You might be interested in the projects I have selected here. They are among the most significant and interesting organs with which it has been my privilege and pleasure to be involved. If you've not visited the organs themselves, I hope that reading about them will inspire you to do just that.
Bridlington Priory
This is one of the most heroic organs with which I have been involved—playing it never fails to thrill me. The original 1889 Anneessens pipework still exists within a new 2005 organ by Nicholson & Co.
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Leicester, De Montfort Hall
After many years in the doldrums, this superb 1913 concert organ by Stephen Taylor & Co was immaculately restored by Richard Young during 1996/7. It packs a punch!
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Maidenhead, St Mary Magdalene
When is an organ ‘new’ and when is it a ‘rebuild’? A moot point, especially in an organ such as was installed in St Mary Magdalene, Maidenhead in 2017-18.
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Manchester Cathedral
A munificent gift allowed the cathedral to commission a glorious new 4-manual organ in sumptuous cases, designed by the late Kenneth Tickell and made during 2015-17 by his team after his untimely death.
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Newcastle, St Mary’s Cathedral
Installing an organ in a Pugin building is always a challenge, for the great architect rarely left anywhere to put it! St Mary's cathedal now boasts a stunning-looking Kenneth Tickell instrument made in 2012/3.
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Oxford, Merton College
This was a rare and special opportunity: a new 3-manual organ for one of Oxford's largest college chapels. Dobson Organs (USA) won the contract in 2011, having wowed the college with a breath-taking design for the casework.
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Quarr Abbey, Isle of Wight
Often the smaller organs are just as interesting to restore or rebuild as the larger ones, especially if the instrument is by an 'A-list' maker. The Mutin / Cavaillé-Coll at Quarr Abbey on the Isle of Wight is certainly one such.
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Selby Abbey
The 1909 Hill organ at Selby has a long-held reputation for being the instrument on which Fernando Germani made his iconic Franck and Reger recordings in the early 1960s. I relished the opportunity to advise on sorting it out.
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Sheffield, St Marie’s Cathedral
The opportunity fully to restore a 3-manual T C Lewis cathedral organ, funded entirely by the HLF, is probably unique. That was the position at St Marie's cathedral—but it turned out to be a significant challenge, as I shall explain.
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Thorpe Malsor, All Saints’ Church
I can clearly remember first walking into this village church in Northamptonshire, turning west—then being amazed at the sight before me. This is the story of a unique organ by Thomas Casson.
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University of Sussex, Meeting House
It's rare for an organ from the 1960s to merit a scrupulous restoration, but Grant, Degens & Bradbeer's striking 1966 instrument—totally enclosed in glass—in The Meeting House at the University of Sussex is one such example.
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