A rare 1934 Compton organ housed in the University of Westminster’s Fyvie Hall in the heart of London has been restored to its former glory in a project worth £50,000, launching a new era of musical performance at the University with access for all.
The unique pipe organ will be introduced to the public in a series of concerts during Fyvie Festival running in Fyvie Hall at 309 Regent Street between 31 October and 4 November. Members of the public will even be able to get up close with and play on the historic musical instrument.
The Fyvie Festival, celebrating the past and future of this historic venue, will kick off at 5.30pm on Monday 31 October with a public seminar on the recently restored Fyvie Hall murals representing London’s arts and crafts, held by the restorers from the Simon Gillespie Studio. At 5.30pm on Tuesday 1 November a public lecture will explore the life, work and influence of Ethel Wood CBE whose bequest left to the University made the restoration of the Fyvie Hall organ possible. This will be followed by the much-anticipated inaugural concert on the Fyvie Hall organ by renowned organist Paul Hale at 7.30pm on Wednesday 2 November, passing on the baton to the University’s own Professor Andrew Linn holding a lunch time organ concert at 12.30pm on Friday 4 November.
The Fyvie Festival will conclude with an opportunity for the public to have a go on the restored Fyvie Hall organ between 13.30-3pm on Friday 4 November, with Professor Andrew Linn and organ-builder Peter Hammond on hand to talk about the organ and give guests the chance to play it.
Concert organist and consultant Paul Hale said: “So few of John Compton’s instruments remain untouched that the restoration of this unique example is of great cultural significance. Not only did Compton organs sound fine but they were astonishingly advanced in their electrical mechanisms, which resemble telephone exchanges. Taylor-Hammond has restored to reliable working order this 1934 equipment in the Fyvie Hall, which is a tremendous achievement.”
Professor Andrew Linn, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research and Head of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Westminster, said: “The restored Fyvie Hall organ joins the 1936 Compton organ in the Regent Street Cinema as the foundation stone for musical performance on our Regent Campus and in the wider University. We have a wealth of talent in our University community and on our doorstep in Central London, and this is an exciting time for the University, building on our heritage to help empower the future of our world-leading Arts provision.”
The John Compton Organ Company installed the Fyvie Hall organ in 1934 to support Fyvie Hall’s function as the main ceremonial space for the Regent Street Polytechnic, the predecessor of the University of Westminster. The organ includes rare or indeed unique features, notably the ‘knee swell’ device for opening shutters in the top of the case to moderate the volume of the instrument and the massive wooden multi-pin plug to allow the console to be moved away from the body of the instrument. The restoration works by Taylor-Hammond Associates Ltd has now given a new lease of life to this historic musical instrument.
All events in the Fyvie Festival are open to the public, but the free places are limited and need to be booked in advance: westminster.ac.uk
Watch a video about the restoration of the Fyvie Hall organ.