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.

Performing with pride

Choir & Organ

JEREMY FILSELL TO LEAVE SAINT THOMAS FIFTH AVENUE

Warner Classics announces Lyyra signing

MACY’S SHOP CLOSURE PUTS FUTURE OF ORGAN AT RISK

Anna Lapwood to leave Pembroke College

IN BRIEF

Buzard Pipe Organ Builders announces new organ building facility

PAST LIVES

Pershore: a different perspective

ENCOURAGING FIRST ENCOUNTERS • Head of performance music and director of MusicShare at Lichfield Cathedral School Cathy Lamb shares the logistics to putting on a ‘First Encounter’ concert

PREMIERES

RECITAL ROOM

Tradition, modernism, and the future of church music • Composer Patrick Hawes introduces his new column exploring the tensions, transitions and timeless beauty of choir and organ music in a changing world

The evolution of youth choral singing • An improvement in the UK’s choral provision for young people has led to a greater number of ensembles, rather than infiltrating our amateur choirs. In spite of this, the community choral scene continues to thrive, finds Clare Stevens

David Hill In conversation with … Louis Halsey • Composer, arranger and choral conductor

Margaret Bonds • Raised in a world divided by segregation, composer Margaret Bonds used her music to challenge negative stereotypes and celebrate Black identity. Leah Broad speaks to Dr Samantha Ege about the composer

Equal music • Introducing Choir & Organ’s New Music partners for 2025, Matthew Power talks to Steven Grahl, Director of The Choir of Trinity College Cambridge, and finds a synthesis of intellect and community there

Past, present and future • ‘The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.’ (L P Hartley, The Go Between, 1953)

Broadening horizons • Tom Bell visits the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire to listen to its latest new addition to the organ department: a Romantic-style practice organ from William Drake Ltd

Unearthing hidden voices • David Wordsworth introduces his series looking into the choral traditions of countries we know little about, beginning with Portugal

Alice Beckwith Tomorrow, at dawn • An evocative poem by Victor Hugo has inspired rich harmonies in a new choral piece by Alice Beckwith, who talks to Matthew Power

Choral Communities • Clare Stevens begins her series exploring amateur choirs across the UK with Glasgow’s Bearsden Choir

A spiritual home • Spain is often known as a choral wasteland, its provision for vocal music limited. Rebecca Tavener explores the self-sufficient nature of Spain’s A5 Vocal Ensemble and how it is making way for change

Return to Romanticism • Orgues De Facto, the Belgian organ builder established in 2021, overcomes limitations of space with a new instrument informed by 19th-century style. Nicholas Prozzillo reports

Clarity and sweetness • Paul Hale considers the work of the Virginia organ builder Taylor & Boody, whose historically informed practice also satisfies modern demands

CHOIR & ORGAN NEXT ISSUE • SUMMER 2025

IN THE STUDIO • EXPLORING THE WORLD OF CHORAL AND ORGAN RECORDINGS

STUDIO NEWS

REVIEWS • CONCERTS • KEYBOARD CDS • CHORAL CDS • DVDS • ORGAN MUSIC • CHORAL MUSIC • BOOKS

RECORDINGS Q&A JEREMIAH STEPHENSON, CONCERT ORGANIST AND TEACHER...