Concert to celebrate organ's centenary (From The Advertiser Series)
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Concert to celebrate centenary of Neville's Cross organ
1:10pm Tuesday 23rd October 2012 in News
By Mark Tallentire, Reporter (Durham)
A CONCERT to celebrate 100 years of a church organ will be held later this week.
The pipe organ at St John’s Church, in Neville’s Cross, Durham City, was built in 1912 by renowned Durham organ makers Harrison and Harrison and initially cost £300.
At first, wind had to be pumped in by hand. An electric blower was added in 1941.
Today, the organ has 540 pipes, 445 made of metal and 95 of wood, ranging from a few inches to eight feet in length.
A concert of organ and instrumental music marking the organ’s centenary will be held in the church on Friday (October 26) at 7.30pm. The programme will include music by Bach, Mozart, Saint-Seans, Mendelssohn and Vierne.
Playing the organ will be Dr Peter Swift, a teaching fellow in Durham University’s physics department and sub-organist at St Chad’s College, and Adriel Yap, a church organist and organ builder at Harrison and Harrison.
There will also be an exhibition of organ mechanics and documents from Harrison and Harrison’s archives.
Entry is free and open to all.
