Pull Out All the Stops – Schools Film

Posted on April 5, 2013 by charlottechristesen

Lambeth and Durham school children learn about the organ, April 2013Watch footage of Lambeth and Durham school children learning about the Royal Festival Hall organ.

Alongside the restoration of the Royal Festival Hall organ Southbank Centre is undertaking a learning programme exploring the organ and documenting its return. As part of this project, we are delighted to share with you a film made by schoolchildren from Lambeth and Durham about their visit to the Royal Festival Hall in January 2013 and to the organ builders Harrison & Harrison in February 2013.

Filed under: Misc, Royal Festival Hall, Royal Festival Hall organ | Leave a Comment »

Pull Out All The Stops – reinstallation timelapse footage

Posted on March 7, 2012 by charlottechristesen

Reinstallation work in the auditorium

Watch timelapse footage of the reinstallation of the central section of the organ in January 2012.

With two teams working 24 hours a day for 5 days, the frame was constructed, the reservoirs and soundboards lifted into position and the wind trunks, which convey wind from one section of the instrument to another, were connected. Some of the largest pipes were moved into position and the rest of the pipes in this section will be reinstalled this summer.

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Pull Out All The Stops – Restoration work

Posted on March 7, 2012 by charlottechristesen

http://youtu.be/a8x4N5PzzaE

Follow the link to watch a film of the incredible restoration work which took place in September 2011 at the organ builders Harrison & Harrison Ltd in Durham.

Filed under: Chamber music, Classical season 10-11, Contemporary Classical, Early Music, Misc, Royal Festival Hall, Royal Festival Hall organ | Leave a Comment »

Pull Out All The Stops – Launch video, September 2010

Posted on January 10, 2012 by charlottechristesen

Here is the video we created to launch the campaign to restore the Royal Festival Hall organ back in September 2010.

Filed under: Chamber music, Classical season 10-11, Contemporary Classical, Early Music, Misc, Royal Festival Hall, Royal Festival Hall organ | Leave a Comment »

Progress update on the Royal Festival Hall Organ – July 2011

Posted on August 2, 2011 by charlottechristesen

The organ builders at Harrison & Harrison are currently working on constructing the framework of the central section of the organ. At the lowest level of the framework, the wind reservoirs are already in place and a handful of soundboards for the pipework are also in position.

               

The new spotted metal 16ft Pedal Principal is currently being constructed in heavy gauge metal. In order to prevent the pipes from sagging under their own weight in years to come (a fault with some of the largest pipes, as designed in 1954), zinc sleeves have been made to reinforce the pipe feet. The metal has been cast for these pipes and the photos show the first stages of them being soldered and put together on the benches.

     
The central display of tin and copper pipes, known as the monogram, has been found to be coated in a lacquer which is not from the original design and, in addition, yellow nicotine traces can be seen on the tin pipes because smoking was permitted in the hall during the 1950s.

One important question has been to understand how the pipes looked in 1954. As there are no surviving colour photos of the pipes as first installed, it has only been possible to understand how the pipes looked in 1954 by studying footage of a BBC film of Gillian Weir playing the organ in the mid 1960s. Although the colours in the film are rather faded, they allow us to see that that these pipes were probably originally intended as vibrant and contrasting design elements and, after discussion with the organ builders, it has been decided that the pipes will be cleaned and restored to allow this effect to re-emerge.

Filed under: Classical season 10-11, Contemporary Classical, Misc, Resident Orchestras, Royal Festival Hall, Royal Festival Hall organ | Leave a Comment »

Progress of the restoration and reinstallation of the Royal Festival Hall Organ

Posted on April 13, 2011 by charlottechristesen

Work has now begun on the central section of the organ with the cleaning, restoring and making of components having started in the Harrison & Harrison workshops in Durham in January and February of this year.

The central section of the organ comprises much of the Pedal Organ as well as the Great Reed Chorus 16, 8, and 4 and the Mounted Cornet that are both at the front of the top level. The mechanism associated with this pipe work consists of soundboards, underactions, reservoirs, wind trunks and the framework for the instrument. At the front of this section sits the Monogram, the central design of dummy pipes which will be restored but not fitted until the final section of the instrument is in place.

Materials including leather, timber and glues have been purchased enabling work to be carried out to the tremulants for the manual divisions which are comprised of leather membranes, paddles, valves and encasement boxes. Other items under construction include the new wind reservoirs. The underactions have also been removed from storage and are now being acclimatised before restoration work begins on the leather motors.

We still have £1million left to raise to complete the project and hope that you will help to restore this magnificent organ by sponsoring one or more pipes – there are pipes available from £30 to £10,000. In return for your donation, you will receive a certificate and details of the pipe/s you have sponsored, and your support will be acknowledged on our website. We will also keep you up-to-date with the project’s progress and invite you to the celebratory performances in 2014. Please click on the link below to sponsor a pipe:
http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/name-a-pipe

Filed under: Chamber music, Classical season 10-11, Early Music, Misc, Purcell Room, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Royal Festival Hall organ | 1 Comment »

The Royal Festival Hall organ on BBC Radio 4′s Today programme

Posted on January 18, 2011 by charlottechristesen

Southbank Centre was delighted to welcome Richard Ingrams and Dame Gillian Weir to the Hall last month. Richard Ingrams, who is a keen organist, was guest editing BBC Radio 4’s Today programme between Christmas and the New Year, and he was very interested in featuring the Royal Festival Hall organ and current campaign. He interviewed Dame Gillian Weir about the importance of the organ and they both played the third of the organ that’s in the Hall, which Richard said ‘was a great, great privilege’.

Filed under: Chamber music, Classical season 10-11, Royal Festival Hall, Royal Festival Hall organ | Leave a Comment »

Get ready for Sounds Venezuela next week

Posted on October 8, 2010 by Liz White

Next week Southbank Centre plays host to the UK debut performance of Teresa Carreno Youth Orchestra of Venezuela on 12 and 14 October. After both performances enjoy some free music in The Clore Ballroom from popular latin band Conjunto Sabroso at 9.30pm.

Also featuring in this week of celebrations are Venezuelan pianist Clara Rodriguez giving a free Friday Lunch recital at Level 2 Central Bar of Royal Festival Hall and open rehearsals with Teresa Carreno Youth Orchestra on 11 and 14 October plus a symposium with Jose Antonio Abreu discussing El Sistema with a panel of guests.

More details on Sounds Venezuela

Filed under: Classical season 10-11, Royal Festival Hall organ | Leave a Comment »

Pull out all the stops and help us restore the Royal Festival Hall organ

Posted on September 20, 2010 by Trish Thomas
Royal Festival Hall organ-credit-Hayes-Davidson-+-Nick-Rochowski

How the Royal Festival Hall organ will look when fully restored. (Image courtesy of Hayes Davidson/Nick Rochowski)

The iconic Royal Festival Hall was lovingly restored between 2005 and 2007. As part of that refurbishment one-third of the 103-stop, 7,866-pipe organ was reinstalled.

With two-thirds missing, the organ is unable to perform the complete orchestral and solo repertoire for which it was designed, and the auditorium’s aesthetics are affected by the hole made visible when the organ doors are open.

Now, thanks to the generous support of the Heritage Lottery Fund, we have embarked on a £2.3million project to return the organ to its former glory and reinstall the missing 5,000 pipes. The restoration workby Harrison & Harrison in Durham, who designed and built the organ in 1954 with Ralph Downes CBE, begins in February 2011. The completed organ will be fully playable once more in 2014, 60 years after it was first installed.

We have £1.35 million to raise and hope that you will help us by sponsoring one or more pipes, from one foot to 32 feet long and from £30 to £10,000. To find out more about the history and future of the organ and pledge your support visit the dedicated Pulloutallthestops website.

In return for your support you will receive a certificate and details of the pipe or pipes you have sponsored. You will be kept up-to-date with the project’s progress and will be invited to the celebratory performances in 2014.

Filed under: Classical season 10-11, Royal Festival Hall organ | Leave a Comment »

Southbank Centre Receives Green Light for Application for the Restoration of Royal Festival Hall Organ

Posted on February 3, 2010 by Southbank Centre

Southbank Centre has been given the green light* by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to work up plans for a grant of £950,000 to complete the refurbishment of the Royal Festival Hall’s organ.

The first phase of the organ refurbishment, the restoration and reinstallation of the Swell, Great fluework and Pedal Principal 32ft stop, was completed as part of the major transformation of the Royal Festival Hall, which reopened in June 2007. The final phase, at a cost of over £2 million, will be completed in 2013.

The second round application to HLF will be submitted by Southbank Centre in March and the outcome is likely to be announced in June. A major fundraising campaign will be launched in September to complete the funding required for the work.

The restoration work is being carried out by Harrison and Harrison Ltd, the company that originally built and installed the organ in 1954, and was responsible for the first phase of the refurbishment.

Alan Bishop, Chief Executive of Southbank Centre, said:

“We are committed to fully restoring the great organ of the Royal Festival Hall for the next generation. I am delighted that the Heritage Lottery Fund has given us this important encouragement at such a vital time in our plans.”

Sue Bowers, Head of the Heritage Lottery Fund for the London region said:

“We look forward to working further with the Southbank Centre to develop their plans for a full award to restore this magnificent organ, so that this centre-piece of the Royal Festival Hall may be enjoyed by future generations.”

Sir Roger Norrington, said:

“The Ralph Downes organ in the Royal Festival Hall is at the heart of classical music-making in London and an incredibly important part of our musical heritage. I’m so pleased that the Heritage Lottery Fund has given Southbank Centre the go-ahead to take their application to the final stage.”

*A first-round pass means the project meets our criteria for funding and we believe it has potential to deliver high-quality benefits and value for Lottery money. The application was in competition with other supportable projects, so a first-round pass is an endorsement of outline proposals. Having been awarded a first-round pass, the project now has up to two years to submit fully developed proposals to compete for a firm award.

Filed under: Royal Festival Hall, Royal Festival Hall organ | Tagged: , , | 3 Comments »

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