This coming Saturday, 21 November 2015, I’m looking forward to hearing Betty’s opening recital – Betty being the venerable 1865 Hill organ at St John’s Hyde Park in London, which has just undergone a major restoration by Nicholson’s, in this her 150th year, with National Lottery Funding. It has all been documented in a great blog SAVE BETTY savebetty.wordpress.com – well worth a visit for the pictures and stories of the three years of the project.
As part of Saving Betty, the project has played its part in building up the skills to maintain and build pipe organs for generations to come. Alistair Curtis was hired as an apprentice to work with Nicholson, the organ builder, on Betty’s Restoration, and he gives his own personal account on the website. And this video from the blog of the organ disappearing out of the church in two minutes flat is actually rather alarming:
She’s back now, of course, with Nicholson’s working on the voicing and regulating, in time for the opening recital by James O’Donnell, Organist and Master of Choristers at Westminster Abbey, which includes a newly commissioned organ concerto by Tom Floyd (you can read about that on the blog too.)
St John’s Organist Nick Miller told me “It’s a totally glorious sound, and it’s so exciting to hear Betty come back to life after so long!” He said that the name Betty came from the Director of Music Robert Greenhill, who named the organ after his pet tortoise, due to her slow, ponderous nature. Betty may not be sufficiently glamorous a name any more – there’s been some discussion that Lady Elizabeth may now be more appropriate, but we shall see at the opening.
Opening recital tickets are free, and available via Eventbrite.
You can follow Betty on Twitter @BettyHydePark
Belated thanks for posting this, Morwenna! A group of us from The Edinburgh Society of Organists had the good fortune to play this organ during a trip to London a couple of weeks ago. Happy memories of a glorious sound indeed!