Choir & Organ

Choir & Organ shines a global spotlight on two distinctive fields of creativity, celebrating inventiveness and excellence in all their forms. We aim to inspire our readers through giving a platform to conductors, organists, composers, and choirs of every kind; and showcasing the imaginative craft of pipe organ building across the centuries, critiquing new organs and tackling ethics in restoring historic instruments.

EDITOR’S LETTER • Listening skills

CHOIR & ORGAN PARTNERSHIPS

Choir & Organ

VALAIS ORGAN COMPETITION

NIIOC CALL FOR ENTRIES

NEWS IN BRIEF

Genesis Sixteen

Women Composers’ Repertoire

EVENTS

PREMIERES [RP = REGIONAL PREMIERE]

FESTIVALS ROUND-UP

MUSIC IN DEVON

RECITAL ROUND-UP

SOUNDS OF SUMMER

Front stalls • English cathedral music is riding a wave of popularity in the Netherlands. Graeme Kay visits one choir which is nurturing the tradition across several generations

Byrd in the hand • 400 years after the death of William Byrd (c.1540-1623), Thomas Allery surveys the keyboard music and speaks to David Ponsford and Pieter-Jan Belder about interpretation, study and programming

A maverick for our time • In the centenary year of Hungarian composer György Ligeti, David Wordsworth asserts there is much more to his music than ticking metronomes and 2001: A Space Odyssey

Organ symphony • Matthew Power visits the home of the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice to experience its vast new instrument from Škrabl organ builders.

Freestyle • Handel with care, and the ‘DFA fader’

Last words of those long dead • In his work for unaccompanied eight-part choir, James B. Wilson has set deathbed haiku by a range of poets to create a work evoking peaceful sleep.

Keep calm and play continuo • Mastering the art of continuo accompaniment is a valuable skill many organists lack. For those with little experience of reading figured bass, David Ponsford dispels the fear with a simple guide

READERS’ OFFERS • Your chance to WIN and SAVE on CDs, scores and tickets

Gold stars • This September, a third and final volume will be recorded in the CD series In Chains of Gold: The English Pre-Restoration Verse Anthem, concluding a project to bring attention to a large but neglected body of English music.

Your global spotlight on choral and organ music

NEXT ISSUE • SEPTEMBER 2023

ON RELEASE • NEW DISCS COMING OUT IN… JULY AND AUGUST 2023

REVIEWS

KEYBOARD CDS

‘Playing of the highest integrity’

CHORAL CDS

EARLY MUSIC • Rebecca Tavener rounds up the latest releases

‘Faultlessy delivered’

CHORAL MUSIC

ENCOUNTERS • TIM LUTTON, A CHORAL SINGER WITH AUTISM