Birmingham City Organist
Encyclopedia
Birmingham City Organist is an appointment made by the City of Birmingham
. The purpose of the appointment is to have an organist for civic occasions and who will provide a series of free public organ recitals.
Birmingham Town Hall
is the traditional home of the City Organist, and it was under one of the earliest City Organists, James Stimpson, that the popular weekly recitals began. So popular were the recitals that audiences of around 1,500 packed in every Monday evening in the 1840s.
The weekly recitals, now held on Monday at lunch time, have continued to the present day. With the re-opening of a renovated and rejuvenated Town Hall in October 2007 some concerts returned to their home in Town Hall, Birmingham with others performed at Symphony Hall, Birmingham
on the Klais Orgelbau organ.
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
. The purpose of the appointment is to have an organist for civic occasions and who will provide a series of free public organ recitals.
Birmingham Town Hall
Birmingham Town Hall
Birmingham Town Hall is a Grade I listed concert and meeting venue in Victoria Square, Birmingham, England. It was created as a home for the Birmingham Triennial Music Festival established in 1784, the purpose of which was to raise funds for the General Hospital, after St Philip's Church became...
is the traditional home of the City Organist, and it was under one of the earliest City Organists, James Stimpson, that the popular weekly recitals began. So popular were the recitals that audiences of around 1,500 packed in every Monday evening in the 1840s.
The weekly recitals, now held on Monday at lunch time, have continued to the present day. With the re-opening of a renovated and rejuvenated Town Hall in October 2007 some concerts returned to their home in Town Hall, Birmingham with others performed at Symphony Hall, Birmingham
Symphony Hall, Birmingham
Symphony Hall is a 2,262 seat concert venue located inside the International Convention Centre in Birmingham, England. It was officially opened by the Queen in June 1991, although had been opened on April 15, 1991. It is home to the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and hosts around 270 events...
on the Klais Orgelbau organ.
List of Birmingham City Organists
- Thomas Munden 1834-1837
- George Hollins 1837-1841
- James StimpsonJames Stimpson-Early life:He was born in Lincoln on 29 February 1820, the son of a lay vicar of Lincoln Cathedral, who moved to Durham Cathedral in 1822, where James became a chorister in 1827.-Career:...
1842-1886 (formerly organist of Carlisle CathedralCarlisle CathedralThe Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, otherwise called Carlisle Cathedral, is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Carlisle. It is located in Carlisle, in Cumbria, North West England...
) - C W Perkins 1888-1923
- G. D. CunninghamG. D. CunninghamGeorge Dorrington Cunningham was an important concert organist. Born of musical parents, Cunningham studied piano with his mother, subsequently switching to organ at the Guildhall School of Music. Upon graduation he studied with Josiah Booth at Park Chapel, Crouch End, North London...
1924-1949 - Sir George Thalben-BallGeorge Thalben-BallSir George Thomas Thalben-Ball CBE was an organist and composer who, though originally from Australia, spent most of his life in Britain....
1949-1983 - Thomas TrotterThomas TrotterThomas Trotter is a British concert organist. He is Birmingham City Organist and organist of St. Margaret's, Westminster and visiting Professor of Organ at the Royal College of Music, London....
1983-present day