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Lunchtime Concerts at the Minster
 The summer months, when it is usually possible to sit in the Minster without feeling cold, bring the annual series of Lunchtime Concerts. Starting at 12.30 pm on every Wednesday during July, August, and September, the concerts bring a wide range of live music to local audiences and in recent years have also raised substantial funds to renovate the prized vintage Hill organ in the north transept
When is that renovation going to happen? And do we now need it, given that we have a very much cheaper electronic instrument which seems to meet all our musical requirements?
Good questions. Not easy to answer. So come and listen to the BATTLE OF THE ORGANS on Wednesday 3 July, the opening event in the 2024 series of Lunchtime Concerts. John Farmer, a former Organist and Director of Music at the Minster, and Michael Nicholas, currently Acting Director of Music, will deal with some of those questions. They will outline possible schemes for the rebuilding of the old Hill pipe organ. They will also demonstrate, with performances of music by different composers, the potential of both the old Hill pipe organ and the temporary(?) Hauptwerk electronic instrument. Both newcomers who may not know the history of the Organ Project and those who have given money over many years to restore the Minster organ deserve no less - a full account of where we are now
The following weeks will illustrate the diversity of the concert series - a euphonium recital and visits by three different organists. Louis Dawes, elder son of our curate the Revd Liz Dawes, is a full-time music student at a conservatoire and plays a less familiar brass instrument for which there is a surprisingly rich repertoire. His younger brother, Jamie, is a young organist. Liz has already shown her support for the Organ Project by completing her sponsored coastal walk, raising nearly £1,800 for the appeal. Then in the following weeks, Benjamin Nicholas comes from Oxford to play at the Minster for the first time, followed by Tim Patient, now Organist of Eye Parish Church in Suffolk, who has played at the Minster many times
Further highlights include the very popular Levanter Wind Quintet, led by bassoonist Barry Carben (31 July), soprano Katya Ruda, who has just completed her studies at Cambridge University where she sang in the choir of Queen's College (14 August) and a performance of Bach's Double Concerto for two violins by Marion Small and Catherine Edwards (28 August). Moving into September, William Baldry makes his debut at the Minster from the Church of St Mary-le-Tower at Ipswich, which has just been designated a Minster in the diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich (4 September)
Adam Chillingworth makes a return visit after his two brilliant recitals last year and a year as Organ Scholar of Lincoln Cathedral (11 September). A week later, and in association with the Great Yarmouth Arts Festival, the recitalist is Ashley Grote, the Master of Music at Norwich Cathedral. Perhaps Ashley will reveal a few secrets about how money is raised for organ projects after the highly successful rebuilding of the old Norman and Beard instrument in the Cathedral by the firm of Harrison and Harrison of Durham
If you haven't ever been to a Lunchtime Concert at the Minster, give it a try. The atmosphere is friendly, relaxed and fully conducive to quiet listening to fine music played by skilled musicians. There is no charge for entry but, if you can afford it, you will have the opportunity to contribute to the Organ Project Fund. Donations of any size are welcome. Together we may yet achieve what Great Yarmouth needs and deserves - the rebuilding of the historic William Hill pipe organ in the Minster
Michael Nicholas
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