ALTON ORGAN SOCIETY (Founded 1967) ♬♪𝄞 Updated Friday 8 May 2026
Alton Organ Society's 2025/2026 Season of Organ Concerts
Organ Recitals Nationwide
The 2025/2026 season of Organ Concerts ended on Tuesday 5 May when Ourania Gassiou gave a splendid concert with a mixture of well known and new music. She opened her programme playing Mendelssohn's Organ Sonata No 5. Mendelssohn was an accomplished organist and, during his short but productive life, he re-awakened the many organ works of JS Bach who, seemingly, fell out of favour. Therefore, it seemed logical to hear Bach's delightful "Schmücke dich, O liebe Seele" ("adorn yourself, O dear soul") played next. This piece has been popular for many years and, as witnessed by Ourania's skilled playing, is a richly ornamented chorale melody written in Weimar. Some say that if Bach were alive today he would be a jazz/blues fan but I wonder what Mozart would have made of Zsolt Gárdonyi (b.1946) "Mozart Changes"?. Each of Mozart's well known melodies were reworked and embellished in a highly jazzy/bluesy fashion to much delight. Louis Vierne had a somewhat sad personal life and some of his organ works reflected a degree of melancholy including his "Stèle pour in enfant défunt" from Triptyque Op 58. Ourania then played her penultimate piece by Marco Enrico Bossi, Scherzo in G minor Op 49, No 2 demonstrating her nimble keyboard skills. We got quite excited over the final piece "Salve Regina" by Olivier Latry (b.1962). It originally started as an improvisation for which Latry is renowned worldwide. The composition was in 7 movements and was destined to end very quietly. To describe it as a tour de force is an understatement. There were several discords that could only be valid when played on the organ. We wondered if the organ would ever recover. It was played very skilfully and Ourania managed to get so many wonderful sounds from the organ by registering the stops so professionally. Not only was Latry's piece a climax to her concert but a worthy celebration of a wonderful season of top rated organists. As we approach the 60th year of the Society, we were reminded that Olivier Latry performed at St Lawrence Church during the 50th Anniversary in 2016. Ourania's programme can be viewed here.
We now take a break until the 2026/2027 Season which starts on Tuesday 6 October 2026 when David Hill makes a most welcome return to Alton. Click here to view the Season's line up of organists and/or download a copy of the flyer here. If you wish to renew or take out Season Membership (£84 for all eight organ concerts between October and May 2027) click here to download and application form.
In the meantime, organ music concerts will continue at St Lawrence Church with a couple of Lunchtime Organ Concerts given by local musicians. Click here for details and/or download a flyer 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 in 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 - and, maybe good at running a website including updating on a regular basis to keep it fresh and interesting, 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 or contact us by email - click here.
David Hill MBE organist and International Choral Director, Patron of the Alton Organ Society and past 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 existence 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.