Opening of the restored Hill & Son organ, Tanunda


On Saturday 30 and Sunday 31 August 2014 the completion of the meticulous restoration of the Hill & Son organ was commemorated in two concerts, each to a capacity audience of around 350 persons.

The organ soloist for each concert was Dominic Perissinotto, from Perth, WA, who performed on the Saturday evening with a brass ensemble and Kirsti Harms, Soprano in wide ranging programmes. These are available below:

Tanunda opening concert programme 1

Tanunda opening concert programme 2

There have also been television reports on the restoration and a review of one of the concerts:

ABC 7.30 report Friday 29 August 2014:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-30/pipe-dream-comes-true-in-the-barossa-valley/5707870

Report from Barossa News Online (including excerpts from the Elgar Imperial March performed at the Sunday concert) and interviews with Steve Kaesler and Dominic Perissinotto:

http://www.barossanewsonline.com/barossa-news.html

Review of the Saturday concert from the Advertiser newspaper:

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/entertainment/arts/natalie-williams-work-the-highlight-of-restored-grand-organ-gala/story-fni6um8e-1227042910795

And another earlier television report from Channel 7:

https://au.news.yahoo.com/video/watch/24792473/adelaide-organ-restored/

Further reports:

http://www.weekendnotes.com/barossa-1877-hill-son-grand-organ/

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-28/pipe-organ-restored-in-the-barossa-valley/5702180

For images of the whole weekend:

http://www.valleyimagery.com.au/project/hill-son-grand-opening-30-31-aug-2014/

Newspaper articles:

Hill & Son Grand Organ Gala Concert

1877 Hill & Son Grand Organ is pride of Barossa

The organ acquitted itself admirably in a wide range of music. It sounded to perfection in items from a number of countries and periods and it was particularly interesting that the events premiered a specially commissioned work by Natalie Williams: Imprimatur : Toccata for Organ. It worked very well accompanying Kirsti Harms in the vocal works and blended admirably with the brass (which managed to adjust their tuning perfectly to the higher pitch of the organ).

The organ looked riveting on the stage, with special lighting bringing out the details of the woodwork and the stencilled pipes and gilding. The organ is a perfect match for the size and acoustic of the building and has a very wide range of colours. Of particular note are the scintillating choruses with their glittering Mixtures, the very grand, bright and powerful reeds, the clarity and articulate quality of the overall sound – and even the amazing piquancy of the Choir Organ, topped by a very bright wooden Flageolet. It is certainly the finest organ in South Australia and has to be one of the three or four finest in Australia. It would be difficult to find a Hill organ of this size anywhere that is the equal of this one.

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