The first concert in Salisbury Cathedral’s 2022 Organ Festival series is set to launch on Saturday 30 April, all guns blazing, with a performance by celebrity organist, Thomas Trotter relayed on a new extra-large screen, showing all the action in the organ loft in high definition for those sitting in the nave.
Thomas, an internationally famous organist, was recently awarded The Queen's Medal for Music by Her Majesty The Queen on St Cecilia's Day 2020. He performs a dazzling programme of works by Bach, Duruflé, Gardner, Mozart, Volans, and the thrilling Introduction, Passacaglia and Fugue by Healey Willan, finished during the First World War when Willan was living in Canada, and considered to be one of the great early twentieth-century organ works.
Long overdue due to delays caused by the pandemic, Thomas Trotter’s concert is the first organ concert to be given in the Cathedral since 2018, four years ago. The festival was originally due to take place in 2020, following the organ’s extensive restoration in 2019, but in Spring 2020 the first lockdown came into force and all live music was cancelled.
Assistant Director of Music and concert organiser, John Challenger said: “I am extremely excited that, at long last and after such great delay, our wonderful organ is going to be heard in concert again. We could think of no better way to honour its return than by asking the most famous organist in the country, Thomas Trotter, to give the opening recital. Thomas is well known as one of the greatest organists of our time, and I cannot wait to see him put the Willis organ through its paces, and watch it on our new big screen.”
Thomas Trotter’s organ concert starts at 19.00. Tickets are on sale via the Cathedral website, prices from £10. Wheelchair user tickets include a free companion ticket.
To subscribe click here.
Check out our Welcome to Wiltshire guide with things to do, charity updates and more