2002 Klais organ at Symphony Hall, Birmingham, England

If you naturally think of the pipe organ as a church instrument, think again. This week, we celebrate three organ installations from concert Halls in China, Australia and England. Carol Williams shows off the Connecticut-built Austin organ in the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing, Thomas Heywood gives us the before-and-after treatment at Melbourne Town Hall, where the 1929 Hill organ was expanded and modernized by the Schantz Company of Ohio, and at the new concert hall in Birhmigham, England, Thomas Trotter pulls out all the stops. Click and listen to concert music for concert instruments. This week, we’re not in a church but Out in the Hall.

Through folk tunes and patriotic airs, the pipe organ celebrates our national spirit with it’s own kind of fireworks.

…an eclectic and engaging survey of evidence of the pipe organ’s potential for color and variety, from recent recordings.

…whether in Renaissance style or rhumba, when the pipe organ’s in the mood there’s no better partner. This week’s program is a display of the kinetic energy that surrounds the King of Instruments.

…we start the New Year with a survey of arresting, mostly-new music in world-premiere recordings.