A GREAT LAUNCH

After five years of planning the new Auckland Town Hall Organ was launched in all its glory on the 21st March 2010. A fine Maori welcome, superb singing from three combined choirs, a new organ symphony composed by City Organist, John Wells, and an organ concerto with the Auckland Youth Orchestra and young Nicholas Tarling at the console, all made for a great day and a time for celebration. Subsequently the APO and international organist Thomas Trotter gave us two further organ concertos later in the week and three weeks later Thomas Heywood of Melbourne gave a splendid solo concert at our April free concert. For all the events the hall was packed – a far cry from the past and the miserable way the organ was treated prior to the late nineties refurbishment of the Hall as the accompanying photo shows. Just contrast the photo from the past below with the photo in one of my previous blog postings, showing the organ as it is now.