ALTON ORGAN SOCIETY (Founded 1967) ♬♪𝄞 Updated Wednesday 3 December 2025

Alton Organ Society's 2025/2026 Season of Organ Concerts
Organ Recitals Nationwide

Peter Wright (formerly, Southwark Cathedral) made a very welcome return to Alton giving a wide ranging programme of organ music starting in the 17th century. When planning his programme, Peter included tributes to his former teachers, Richard Popplewell (Royal College of Music) and Flor Peeters (Belgium). Another of Peter's teachers was Dame Gillian Weir who, coincidentally, is one of the Society's Patron.
We heard first, "Toccata duodecima et ultima" by Georg Muffat (1672-1703). German born but his music was influenced by the Italian style. Nicolas de Grigny (1672-1703) was, in his day, one of France's great organists and his "Tierce en Taille" highlighted his skill of adding to his music including use of harmonic stop. No concert is complete without the inclusion of JS Bach and Peter performed Bach's "Prelude and Fugue in E minor ("Wedge") - a technically challenging piece which requires immense skill and concentration delivered in style. Peter's first tribute was to Flor Peeters by playing the "Scherzo" from "Suite modale" with the lightness of touch and delight to the ear. Peter played, as an encore, Peeters gorgeous "Aria" which, apparently, was first scored for trumpet and piano! The organ arrangement is more subtle and popular when playing quiet music during services. Richard Popplewell's "Elegy" was probably new to the audience and what a beautiful harmonic piece to proved to be. Richard succeeded Harold Darke at St Michael's Church, Cornhill in the City of London and his "Elegy" was dedicated to Harold. César Franck was a Belgian-French Romantic composer whose most productive time as an improvisor and composer was as organist at Sainte Clotilde from 1858 until his death in 1890. Arguably, one of his best known compositions was "Pièce héroïque" which Peter played with panache using a wonderful choice of registrations. During his wonderful concert, Peter's oral programme notes were educative, humours and articulate much to the audience's enjoyment. The organ did give rise to an authentic French sound when the B flat trumpet stop decided to go out of tune but failed to dampen the success and enjoyment of Peter's concert! Peter's programme can be viewed here.

The Organ Society takes a short break during the run up to Christmas but the organ will continue be heard during the various Advent and Christmas services. The first organ concert in 2026 will be given by Joshua Simões (Chapel Royal, Hampton Court) on Tuesday 6 January 2026 starting at 8.00 pm. Refreshments will be available from 7.30 pm. Joshua's programme can be viewed here.

Full details of the wonderful line up of guest organists can be seen here. Keep in touch and visit this website and see details of individual organists as their respective programmes and biographies are added. Admission to each concert is £12. However, you can take out Season Membership for £72 which is equivalent to £9 for each of the 8 organ concerts between October 25 and May 26. Click here to download a copy of the Season Membership application form. Peter Wright's biog and programme has now been added to the website and can be viewed here.

Alton Organ Society Committee - New Members Welcome

The organ society committee is keen to attract new members to maintain the future success of Alton Organ Society now starting its 59th year. There are tasks that do not require organ playing skills but the ability to administer the running of the society. For instance, if you are interested and able to be a graphic designer - creating posters, designing programme formats etc - we would like to hear from you. Maybe you are good at running a website including updating on a regular basis to keep it fresh and interesting. Again, we would like to hear from you. If you plan to attend any of the future organ concerts and would like to discuss these roles with committee members, please do approach one of us. If you wish to contact us by email, please click here.

David Hill MBE organist and International Choral Director, Patron of the Alton Organ Society and currently President of the Royal College of Organists very kindly recorded a CD on the St Lawrence Church, Alton, organ to celebrate 55 years of the Organ Society and to raise funds for the restoration of the Speechly organ. The music was recorded by Herald AV Publications, a specialist recording company, in October 2022. The CD was launched at St Lawrence Church, Alton on Tuesday 4 October 2022. The CD costs £15 of which £3.00 of the purchase price will go towards the organ restoration fund. David's CD was reviewed by Choir & Organ Magazine and copies of that review and Graeme Kay's article on the Society can be seen here. The CD can be purchased from members of the Society Committee, from Resurrection Furniture in Alton and at the Society's Organ Concerts. For further details and purchase of a CD do use the contact page here.

There is an excellent website that lists national organ concerts (including those held in Alton) and can be viewed here. Please list altonorgansociety.co.uk & Organ Recitals Nationwide among your favourites.