Regent Classic Organs are very excited to have Dr Joseph Nolan perform three concerts in May 2018 on our bespoke church organs.
These three concerts in different locations around the UK & Ireland is a fantastic opportunity to listen to Dr Nolan play in person. If you read our blog or follow us on social media it would have been difficult to miss the many outstanding videos with him playing our Regent Classic organ at Selby Abbey (see one of these videos below).
Location, Date and Programme
The three Venues are as follows (see details further down):
- St Mary’s, Chalgrove: 19th May at 7.30pm
- St Joseph’s, Dundalk: 24th May at 7.30pm
- St. Mary’s, Witney: 27th May at 7.30pm
The planned programme for the concerts is as follows:
- Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor by J.S. Bach
- Symphony No. 1 in D minor Op. 14 by Louis Vierne (complete)
- Variations sur un Noël (Op. 20) by Marcel Dupre.
St Mary’s, Chalgrove – 19th May 2018
The Regent Classic instrument in St Mary’s is based on the popular Viscount Envoy 23-S organ. A ‘Physical Modelling’ based instrument with 23 stops in a real wood veneer cabinet. The standard 23-S organ has a 30 note pedal board while this instrument has a 32 note board. The speaker system is completely invisible high in the nave roof hidden behind radiant heater panels together with a secondary set of speakers high on the chancel west wall that can be independently switched on or off at the console. Read more about the instrument and installation in our blog post or look at the specification on our install page.
Address: St Mary’s Church, Church Ln, Chalgrove, OX44 7SD
Ticket and Other information: No tickets needed. Admission on the door for a suggested donation of £7 per person.
St Joseph’s, Dundalk – 24th May 2018
The Regent Classic Organ in St Joseph’s Church is a 3 manual instrument. The instruments has Kimber Allen stop knobs and the solenoids that allowed a ferrule to provide a contrasting white ring where the solenoid shaft passes through the jamb. The jambs, music desk and piston rails are in a burr oak veneer that provides a lovely warm colour contrast to the much lighter oak of the console main structure. The church chose wood filled Fatar keyboards and we also has added stringing to the key cheeks and a first for us stringing to the expression pedals as well. Please read more about the installation and organ on our blog.
Address: St Joseph’s Church, St Alphonsus Road, Dundalk, A91 F3FC
Ticket and Other information: No tickets needed. Admission is free with a retiring collection.
St Mary’s, Witney – 27th May 2018
Our Regent Classic Organ was installed here in 2015. It is a custom built 3 manual instrument designed to fit very nicely into its current environment. The new console was fitted with new draw stops and new wood based keyboards.
12 new speakers were installed in the old pipe enclosure including two of the original bass cabinets fitted with new long-throw 10 inch drivers. Some of the swell speakers were put at the top of the enclosure and pointed up to the roof to provide a more diffuse radiation of the reed stops. The speakers carrying the new choir division are concealed high behind the chancel alcove arch, in the location of the original pipe organ, so the sound reflects into the choir off the alcove back wall.
Read more about this interesting installation and the specification on our install page.
Address: St Mary’s Church, Witney, OX28 4AW
Ticket and Other information: No tickets needed. Admission is free with a retiring collection.
About Dr Joseph Nolan
Multiple award winning British-Australian organist Dr Joseph Nolan has been hailed by ABC Classic FM as ‘an extraordinary musician’ and BBC Radio 3 CD Review as a ‘virtuoso’
Joseph graduated with distinction from the Royal College of Music, London, undertaking postgraduate studies with the legendary Marie-Claire Alain in Paris for two years supported by scholarships from the Countess of Munster Trust and Hattori Foundation.
Joseph then returned to London and was appointed to Her Majesty’s Chapels Royal, St James’s Palace where he performed many times at Buckingham Palace, including giving the opening concert of the refurbished Grand Ballroom organ.
Joseph Nolan’s recordings of the complete organ works of Charles Marie Widor on the most famous French organs for award winning label, Signum Records, have been awarded multiple Editor’s Choices and five star reviews in Limelight, Gramophone and BBC Music Magazine. Very notably, Gramophone named the final disc of the Widor/Nolan cycle as a Critics Choice of 2017.
Joseph Nolan was made a Chevalier des Arts des Lettres by the French government in 2016 and an Honorary Fellow of the University of Western Australia in 2013. Appointed Master of Music at St George’s Cathedral, Perth in 2008, the Cathedral music programme has been described as ‘elite, faultless and world-class’ by the Australian and West Australian newspapers.
You can watch more videos with Dr Joseph Nolan here:
Symphony for Organ No 5 (Widor)
Regent Classic DVD – Joseph Nolan at Selby Abbey
Behind the Scenes Selby Abbey DVD recording
YouTube – Regent Classic at Selby Abbey
I have had a passion for church organs since the tender age of 12. I own and run Regent Classic Organs with a close attention to the detail that musicians appreciate; and a clear understanding of the benefits of digital technology and keeping to the traditional and emotional elements of organ playing.
