This Thursday, 2 October 2025, join us at @stchadsbirm.bsky.social for the free monthly @thursdaylive.org organ recital which this month will be given by Mark Brafield. The programme opens with Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in B minor. Full programme below and further details at thursdaylive.org.uk

Today at 1:15pm the final movement of Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite - In the Hall of the Mountain King - will be released on YouTube. You can then watch the entire suite (Morning, Death of Ase, Anita's Dance and In the Hall of the Mountain King) here: www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...

Thursday Live returns to the monthly pattern following our weekly ThursdayLivePlus! summer series. The next recital will be given by Mark Brafield on Thursday 2 October at 1:15pm in St Chad’s Cathedral #Birmingham - free admission. All welcome! @stchadsbirm.bsky.social @rcbirmingham.bsky.social

Huge thanks to Nicholas Freestone who played September’s @thursdaylive.org recital today. Pictured post-recital with @stchadsbirm.bsky.social Cathedral Dean Canon Brian McGinley. A beautifully played programme which explored the organ’s many colours.

This Thursday, 4 September 2025 at 1:15pm in @stchadsbirm.bsky.social St Chad’s Cathedral, Birmingham we welcome Nicholas Freestone (who is Assistant Director of Music at Worcester Cathedral) to play the Walker organ. Admission is free Full details at thursdaylive.org All welcome 🙂🎶

Tomorrow, Thur 28 Aug at 1:15pm in @stchadsbirm.bsky.social St Chad’s Cathedral Birmingham, come and hear Victoria Ulriksen play a 40-minute organ recital. I heard her rehearsal this evening and we’re in for a treat: musical, colourful and virtuosic playing of the highest order. @thursdaylive.org

🎶 Delighted to be welcoming Victoria Ulriksen to play as part of her extensive concert tour. Victoria will play the last of this year’s weekly Thursday Live Plus! Organ Recitals in St Chad’s Cathedral this Thursday (28 August ‘25) @stchadsbirm.bsky.social Not to be missed! Admission free.

This Thurs 21 Aug at 1:15pm we welcome Edmund Aldhouse from @elycathedral.bsky.social to play this week’s Thursday LIVE Plus! Organ Recital @stchadsbirm.bsky.social. Come and hear the fabulous Walker organ put through its paces in works by J.S.Bach, Marcel Dupré and James Mitchell. Admission free

1/4 Thursday Live Plus! 2025: the weekly series during August is already at its halfway point following recitals on 7 Aug by Professor David Saint and 14 Aug by Paul Carr. Memorable highlights include the jazzy fireworks of Jean Langlais’ Fête played with customary panache by David, preceded by…

There is an organ recital in St @stchadsbirm.bsky.social every Thurs during Aug at 1:15pm. This week 14 Aug @organistpaul.bsky.social plays works by Mozart, Dupré, Boëllmann, Part, Ireland & Guilmant. Admission free Retiring collection All welcome Full details here: paulcarr.co.uk/thursday-live-plus

Thursday Live Plus! begins tomorrow with Professor David Saint playing Howells, Bach and Langlais on the fabulous Walker organ in @stchadsbirm.bsky.social . Then during August there’s a recital EVERY Thursday! Full details: paulcarr.co.uk/thursday-live-plus All welcome! @rcbirmingham.bsky.social

Not long until @thursdaylive.org presents Thursday LIVE Plus! in @stchadsbirm.bsky.social - a recital every Thurs in Aug at 1:15pm. Most Fridays in August there is a guided tour of the Cathedral starting today at 10:30am and also on Friday 8 & 22 August. www.stchadscathedral.org.uk/wp-content/u...

The Jubilee Icon is back in the Archdiocese, at St Chad's Cathedral. It will be in situ until Sunday 10 August. The icon was first 'on tour' in the Archdiocese in January. CAFOD commissioned the icon from artist Mulugeta Araya in Ethiopia, in order to celebrate and commemorate the Jubilee Year.

Not long to go now until the 🔸🔸Thursday Live Plus!🔸🔸 series begins in @stchadsbirm.bsky.social An organ recital at 1:15pm every Thursday during August beginning with Professor David Saint, St Chad’s Cathedral’s Director of Music, playing on Thursday 7 August 2025. Admission free, all welcome.

The latest release on the Thursday LIVE YouTube channel is David Saint playing Langlais’ Te Deum on the Walker organ in @stchadsbirm.bsky.social St Chad’s Cathedral, Birmingham. David plays the first ‘Thursday Live Plus!’ recital on August 7th at 1:15pm. Thursdaylive.org youtu.be/QYBqLegXyUE?...

Following TL this week an audience member writes: ‘This was an amazing and compelling performance on an instrument that so suited the music. Everything was so musically played, with clarity of line and attentive articulation. The final movement ended the recital with a dazzling display of bravura!’

Come and hear Paul Carr @organistpaul.bsky.social put the magnificent Walker organ in @stchadsbirm.bsky.social through its paces today at 1:15pm when he performs the monumental Symphonie VI by Louis Vierne. Admission is free, the recital lasts around 40 minutes. thursdaylive.org for more details.

The posts in the last 5 mins try to give you a flavour of the wonderful music by Louis Vierne (Organist at Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris from 1900 to 1937) which Paul Carr @organistpaul.bsky.social plays tomorrow, Thursday 3rd July 2025 at 1:15pm in St Chad’s Cathedral, Birmingham. Come and hear it!

The Final is one of Vierne’s most joyful compositions, full of energy with a timpani-like pedal part. Quieter, but still energetic sections present versions of the symphony’s two themes until the music builds to a wonderful climax with F sharp major pedal scales underpinning the blazing final pages.

Adagio opens with a B flat underpinning a version of the 2nd theme. The middle section is a fine example of Vierne’s characteristic lyrical style which develops the first theme. The movement ends in a solemn mood with the elements of the opening returning, though now they are mellow and distant.

After a hazy few bars of introduction, the lyrical Aria features the Swell Trumpet developing the first theme, perhaps depicting a lazy day at the beach, and later evoking a Mediterranean sunset as the music eventually melts away. (If you’ve no idea what this is about read the previous few posts!)

The Scherzo from Vierne’s sixth symphony is both rhythmically and harmonically more developed than any of Vierne’s earlier examples – after a bizarre, rhythmically-charged opening the symphony’s first theme appears with a completely transformed character as Vierne depicts the grins of gargoyles.

Vierne’s sixth symphony is based on two themes. The first theme is introduced in the third bar of the agitated introduction. The second theme appears in the slow section, which follows on the second page. Both themes are then developed throughout the highly chromatic and fiery Allegro movement.

Louis Vierne’s last important composition, his sixth symphony, was written in the summer of 1934 while staying in Menton on the Mediterranean coast. Inspired by the Mediterranean landscape, Vierne created a more relaxed and brighter atmosphere than the melancholic mood of his earlier symphonies.

Paul Carr @organistpaul.bsky.social plays Vierne’s sixth Symphony in its entirely on Thursday 3 July at 1:15pm in St Chad’s Cathedral, Birmingham. @stchadsbirm.bsky.social. Maurice Duruflé premiered the work in Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris in June 1934. It is in 5 movements and lasts around 40 mins.

Paul Carr @organistpaul.bsky.social plays Louis Vierne’s Symphonie VI in its entirety this Thursday 3 July 2025 at 1:15pm in @stchadsbirm.bsky.social Vierne’s last important composition, his sixth symphony, was written in the summer of 1934 while staying in Menton on the Mediterranean coast.

This time next week, Thursday 3 July 2025 at 1:15pm, @organistpaul.bsky.social Paul Carr will be performing the whole of Louis Vierne’s Symphony no 6 in B minor as part of the @thursdaylive.org series in @stchadsbirm.bsky.social St Chad’s Cathedral, Birmingham. Admission is free! thursdaylive.org

It’s Thursday, mid-month so time for a new video on ThursdayLive’s YouTube channel. Today, we have not one but two videos played by @organistpaul.bsky.social on the fabulous Walker organ in @stchadsbirm.bsky.social Recorded after January’s @thursdaylive.org organ recital. youtu.be/53RN46sqhio?...

A brilliant recital by Paolo Oreni at @stchadsbirm.bsky.social today. After virtuosic performances of Bach and Liszt Paolo created a stunning improvisation on a submitted theme, Veni Creator Spiritus, in which an incredible kaleidoscope of colour and sound cascaded from the instrument.

Tomorrow, Thursday 5 June at 1:15pm Italian Concert Organist Paolo Oreni starts his UK concert tour with @thursdaylive.org in @stchadsbirm.bsky.social St Chad’s Cathedral. Not to be missed! Full details: thursdaylive.org

Thursday, 5 June at 1:15pm, Italian international concert organist Paolo Oreni plays the next @thursdaylive.org organ recital in @stchadsbirm.bsky.social St Chad’s Cathedral Birmingham. Not to be missed! Free admission.

Professor David Saint, @stchadsbirm.bsky.social’s Director of Music plays Buxtehude’s Praeludium in G minor for this month’s release on the @thursdaylive.org YouTube channel. youtu.be/5BdPT9F0SDo?... @rcbirmingham.bsky.social

The next @thursdaylive.org organ recital in @stchadsbirm.bsky.social Birmingham is on June 5th at 1:15pm and will be given by Italian virtuoso organist Paolo Oreni. The programme includes one of his legendary improvisations - not to be missed!

Marking the centenary of the death of Marco Enrico Bossi, here is his Etude Symphonique recorded in 2021. This single-take performance was recorded at the end of a session in which the (then online-only) @thursdaylive.org recital had been filmed in @stchadsbirm.bsky.social. youtu.be/0ehStsc4brU?...

The premiere of Thierry Pallesco’s Fantaisie no.6, dedicated to @organistpaul.bsky.social was given @stchadsbirm.bsky.social in March. Paul recorded it later that day and here it is: youtu.be/373EgdgEq8I?...

A wonderful recital today by three students from @royalbirmcons.bsky.social Royal Birmingham Conservatoire’s Organ Department. Piotr Maziarz opened the programme with a beautifully poised rendition of Mendelsohn‘s sixth organ Sonata.

Two days until the next @thursdaylive.org organ recital in @stchadsbirm.bsky.social St Chad’s Cathedral, Birmingham, this month featuring 3 organists, students in the Organ Department at RBC. All welcome! 1:15pm-1:55pm Thursday 1 May. @rcbirmingham.bsky.social @royalbirmcons.bsky.social

In a change to the original programme, we’re delighted to be welcoming three students from @royalbirmcons.bsky.social Organ Department to play May’s @thursdaylive.org organ recital in @stchadsbirm.bsky.social on May 1st at 1:15pm. Details: thursdaylive.org And 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻

The evening sun on the JW Walker organ case in @stchadsbirm.bsky.social St Chad’s Cathedral Birmingham at the end of a recording session (for the @thursdaylive.org YouTube channel) with David Saint playing Franck’s second Choral. Come and hear it live tomorrow 3 April 1:15pm More: thursdaylive.org

Thursday 3 April at 1:15pm Bach, Mendelssohn and Franck at this month’s @thursdaylive.org organ recital given by David Saint, @stchadsbirm.bsky.social’s Director of Music. Admission free. All very welcome! thursdaylive.org for full details.

This month’s new video release is David Saint, Director of Music @stchadsbirm.bsky.social, playing Parry’s Fantasia & Fugue in G on the amazing Walker organ in St Chad’s Cathedral Birmingham. youtu.be/PSVs0I_LxEE?... @rcbirmingham.bsky.social thursdaylive.org

Organs & Organists starter pack updated… go.bsky.app/NpCGD1Y @katelynemerson.bsky.social @felixhell.bsky.social @michellehorsley.bsky.social @christopherholman.bsky.social @cmwoolmer.bsky.social If you’re an organist but not in the starter pack, feel free to let me know so I can add you. 😎

The next Thursday Live organ recital at @stchadsbirm.bsky.social will be given by St Chad’s Cathedral Director of Music, Professor David Saint, on 3rd April at the usual time of 1:15pm. Programme 👇🏻

TODAY! 1:15pm @stchadsbirm.bsky.social Paul Carr @organistpaul.bsky.social plays March’s thursdaylive.org on the fantastic Walker organ. Admission free with retiring collection. All very welcome!

3/3 Lindberg’s musical output includes nearly all classical genres. In 1926 he became a member of the RSAM receiving the Litteris et artibus medal in 1932. The last two movements of his Sonata in G minor demonstrate both his grasp of beautiful flowing melody and complex chromatic harmony.

2/3 Lindberg was a Swedish composer, organist, conductor born in Stockholm. Studied at the Royal Conservatory of Music 1903−11, was organist at the Trinity Methodist Church, Stockholm 1906-1914 and at Engelbrekt Church during 1914−55. He taught at the RCM from 1919-1952, becoming professor in 1936.

1/3 The final works on Paul Carr’s @organistpaul.bsky.social programme tomorrow, Thursday 6 March 2025 at 1:15pm in St Chad’s Cathedral @stchadsbirm.bsky.social, are the last two movements of Oskar Lindberg’s Sonata in G Minor: Alla Sarabanda and Finale. ➡️ thursdaylive.org for full details.

2/2 Lemare’s compositions were designed to show off the organs of his day, his symphonies rival those of his French contemporaries. The Scherzo (Symphony 1) has an energetic theme. The central section is lighter providing a pause before the opening theme returns & builds to a triumphant conclusion.

1/2 Lemare’s Scherzo from Symphony in G minor is the 5th work on Paul Carr’s programme this Thursday. Lemare, an English organist/composer lived the latter part of his life in the USA. He had a very large repertoire, was in constant demand, and was the most highly paid organist of his day!

Paul Carr @organistpaul.bsky.social is delighted to be giving the first performance of Thierry Pallesco’s Fantaisie no.6 during March’s @thursdaylive.org organ recital @stchadsbirm.bsky.social this week. Read more about Thierry and his music at paulcarr.co.uk/thierry-pallesco-fantaisie-no-6