Leeds Town Hall closure an opportunity to restore organ - Yorkshire Post Letters

From: David Salter, Chairman, Brodrick Trust, Leeds.

Thank you for promoting interest in the Leeds Town Hall organ renewal project. The closure of the town hall for major works to take place affords a unique opportunity to restore an instrument, which was last fully restored 50 years ago.

The organ contains over 6,000 pipes, which all need to be individually controlled, supplied with wind at the correct pressure and respond instantly to the player. That’s a huge amount of very sophisticated technology.

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Rather than risk a patch-up job, which would keep many of the existing problems, just over half of the existing pipes will be retained with everything else being completely new, including the console.

Operations supivisor at Leeds City Council, Marc Johnson, in the space where the Town Hall organ has been removed. Picture: Jonathan Gawthorpe.Operations supivisor at Leeds City Council, Marc Johnson, in the space where the Town Hall organ has been removed. Picture: Jonathan Gawthorpe.
Operations supivisor at Leeds City Council, Marc Johnson, in the space where the Town Hall organ has been removed. Picture: Jonathan Gawthorpe.

When the organ was first built in 1858, it was one of the largest and most ambitious in the world and one of which Leeds was rightly very proud.

The current renewal will result in one of the largest, most comprehensive, concert organs in the UK, very much reflecting the original vision of the Victorian builders.

The organ is already one of the most heavily used in the country. It is heard every week at Monday lunchtime recitals, when anyone can come and hear leading players from the UK and overseas free of charge. It is also used in the Leeds International Concert Season as well as with visiting choirs, brass bands and occasionally even for silent films.

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The new organ will be used to encourage and inspire a new generation of players through joint projects with the Leeds Organ School, the Royal College of Organists and the local education service. None of this will be achieved without significant fundraising.

It was for this purpose that the Brodrick Trust (named after Cuthbert Brodrick, the architect of the town hall) was set up last year.

Further information may be obtained by visiting www.thebrodricktrust.co.uk, which provides a link enabling Gift Aided donations to be made.