Michael Gormley, Hellmuth Wolff & Harald Vogel (photo: John McKay).

The Organ of Christ Church Cathedral, Victoria, B.C.

After more than two years and some 28,000 hours of work, our Opus Magnum is finally complete and was inaugurated on the 12th of October, 2005. Our installing and voicing crews took turns and we all have passed pleasant times on Vancouver Island. Our customers treated us so well by lodging us in beautiful places - we possibly couldn’t afford them ourselves for our own vacations.

In return, the parishioners have been compensated with an instrument of which they are proud, judging from the many congratulations they not only received from others, but also gave to each other. We have never seen so many people embracing after an inaugural ceremony and I can assure you that no aphrodisiac music had been played!

The inaugural concert given by John Scott was also a very moving experience. He captured the audience with his sensitive playing of a varied programme showing the intimate side of our instrument without forgetting to make full use of the plenum and as well the many reeds’ roar at the end of his recital. The cathedral was filled to capacity, but its acoustics surprised us even so as the organ still resonated very well. Before starting to play, Mr. Scott praised the new organ in flattering terms. I would very much like to quote him, if it were not my Zwinglian upbringing that kept me from doing so. As many persons could not attend the concert, or missed the ferry, interested individuals might want to consult the cathedral’s web site for future recitals: <http://www.christchurchcathedral.bc.ca/> under Events.

A conference entitled J. S. Bach and Central/South European Influences was organised by the Westfield Center from June 7 to June 10, 2006 in honour of Harald Vogel and in celebration of the new organ of Christ Church Cathedral, Victoria.

Orphei Organi Antiqui, a book of 400 pages of essays published by the Westfield Center was presented to a surprised Mr. Vogel by Cleveland Johnson, the volume's editor and a former student of the celebrated German organist. (For details and ordering, see : http://www.westfield.org/)

In addition to Mr. Vogel, a number of fine artists, such as William Porter, Eduardo Bellotti, Erica Johnson, Carole Terry and cathadral organist Michael Gormley played the organ, Colin Tilney the harpsichord and Ulrika Davidsson the forte-piano and a good number of conferences where well received.

For many of us, however, the culmination of the symposium was the jam-session of the three improvisers by name of Vogel, Porter and Bellotti on the organ loft. The demonstration was divided into three parts, first the reeds, second the solo possibilities and then the different organo pleno possibilities. There were three inspired Orphei Organi each playing with great power and imagination – and each of them should have received an Olympic trophy!

Sad News: Opus 23 burns down

Saint David's Episcopal Church in Topeka, Kansas, has been a victim of arson on November 10, 2006. Due to structural weakness caused by the fire, the nave, sanctuary, chapel and sacristy must be torn down. The Wolff organ on the gallery burned down completely. The Reverend Donald Davidson, the rector, and the parishioners of Saint David's intend to rebuild the church and replace the organ as well. The church founded in 1953, has between 600 and 700 members and is among the 10 largest Episcopal Churches in Kansas.

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The organ for the University of North Texas in Denton

The instrument for the Winspear Concert Hall at the University of North Texas (our opus ultimus) has been installed last summer and voicing is well under way. For the first time since the opening of the  Murchison Performing ArtsCenter (1999) the canopies can be raised to the highest possible level. In addition to offer a clear view of the organ, the added volume increases the reverb of this fabulous concert hall. 

A first concert will be given by Jesse Eschbach on March 31st,  2008. It will be followed by concerts of other faculty members. An inaugural conference will take place October 20-22 2006. The roster of artists is certainly diversified and consists of: James David Christie, Dame Gillian Weir, Jean Guillou, George Ritchie, Matthew Dirst, Carole Terry, Wayne Leupold, James Frazier and Christa Miller.

Here are pictures of the installation as well as the stoplist.

Continuo organ for the Palais Montcalm

Along with these large organs, we need to do some human-sized organs, as well. Thus we have started to build a small series of continuo organs, one of which is destined for the Palais Montcalm, a new concert hall in Québec, residence of Les Violons du Roy. We could have built a conventional stoplist 8-4-2-Larigot, but since Daniel Taylor’s Theatre of Early Music recorded « Komm Du süße Todesstunde » by J.S. Bach, using the Sesquialtera of our Opus 1 (Atma ACD2 2279) and Alexander Weimann made it sound so brilliantly for a Händel organ concerto (Atma ACD2 2215); like Mr. Bach himself, who could not have too many of them, we cannot deprive ourselves anymore of this stop. Thus all our continuo organs will have a Sesquialtera.

Yours cordially,

Hellmuth Wolff et Associés