Battle of the Organs at Norwich Cathedral

Organists David Dunnett, Ashley Grote and George Inscoe will perform the Battle of the Organs on Friday 3 June at 2pm. Join them for this final performance before the Cathedral’s 105-stop pipe organ is taken out of service for a 15-month restoration.

David Dunnett (Cathedral Organist), Ashley Grote (Master of Music) and George Inscoe (Assistant Organist) will present a programme of some of the best-loved works in the organ repertoire including Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor and Widor’s Toccata in F, played on three organs at once!

After a successful music appeal, the restoration of the Cathedral’s pipe organ begins on Monday 6 June. Most of its 6,655 pipes will be taken away to organ builders Harrison and Harrison of Durham, before being reinstalled and re-voiced next year, ready to be heard again by September 2023. This huge project is the instrument’s first complete restoration since it was rebuilt in 1942, following a fire which partially destroyed the instrument in April 1938.

Whilst the pipe organ is out of use, the Cathedral will have use of two digital organs for its services, provided by Church Organ World in Manchester. In this Battle of the Organs concert, the organists will play the pipe organ and the digital organs (a Makin and a Copeman Hart) alongside each other, as well as the Cathedral’s one-manual chamber organ.

No tickets or booking are required and admission is free.

The performance will last around one hour and there will be a retiring collection taken for the Cathedral music fund.