Free festival welcomes Royal Birmingham Conservatoire's new 'Juliet' organ

Royal Birmingham Conservatoire is to unveil its stunning new ‘Juliet’ organ in a week-long festival of FREE concerts and masterclasses featuring internationally celebrated concert organists, from 4-10 November. 

The new 1,138 pipe organ has been custom-built by UK specialists William Drake Ltd for Royal Birmingham Conservatoire’s (RBC) dedicated Organ Studio.

The Inaugural Festival will include performances and talks by Daniel Moult (head of Organ, RBC) and colleague and organ tutor Nicholas Wearne; award-winning organist and RBC Junior Fellow Carolyn Craig; Henry Fairs (Professor of Organ in Berlin, and former head of Organ at RBC); and stellar young German concert organist Anna-Victoria Baltrusch (Professor of Organ, Halle).

Romantic music from England, France and Germany are at the heart of the festival programme and composers include Elgar, Saint-Saëns, Schumann, Price and many others.

Alongside the concerts, public masterclasses will feature students from the highly-acclaimed organ department, and Daniel Moult will give a masterclass for invited school students from across the UK. 

The building of the instrument will also be the subject of a short, filmed documentary, to be completed with footage from the inaugural festival and released in the new year.

The new ‘Juliet’ organ is the second of five brand new instruments to be installed in RBC, thanks to generous multi-million pound donations. 

Daniel Moult, head of Organ at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, said: “The installation of the new ‘Juliet’ organ is a further step in training our talented student musicians to reach their full potential.  The commissioning of these significant new organs enables us to educate and inspire in ways previously unimagined.  We’re also excited by the opportunities it offers us to introduce the organ to school children across the city and to others unfamiliar with the instrument through special events.”

Stephen Maddock OBE, principal of Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, added: “The wonderful ‘Juliet’ organ adds to the existing state-of-the-art facilities and top level teaching to cement Royal Birmingham Conservatoire’s reputation as a centre of excellence for the training of world-class organists. 

“We are immensely grateful for the major donations that have made this possible.”

Devon-based organ builders William Drake Ltd, established in 1974, have built new organs for the Houses of Parliament chapel, Westminster Abbey song school, St Paul’s Cathedral OBE chapel and many other places of note. 

Royal Birmingham Conservatoire’s inaugural organ festival runs from 4-10 November.  All events are free, booking recommended. More details can be found HERE.

Pictured: Daniel Moult, head of Organ at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, with the Juliet Organ. Credit: Greg Milner Studio