Updates for April 2026

30 April 2026

Updates to the POCP Website for April 2026:

The page for HKG1930 has been updated.

The focus this month has been on tiny Macau (pop. ca. 700,000), where in the past six months three new pipe organ installations have been made, and one new organ in the Census added as the Project was not informed about this organ until earlier this year.

First, after a decade of waiting, the four-manual Casavant organ (MAC2026b) in the Cathedral has finally been installed and opened, although some work remains to be done. Dr. Urrows played the organ in April, and appreciates the help given by the Diocese of Macau and their staff. It is the only large French Romantic-style organ in the Pearl River Delta region, and will be a great resource for organists who want to play music composed after 1800 with correct registration for that period up to the present day. We can only hope that the lesson given by the decision–we have to call it courageous in these circumstances–to build such an instrument, as well as the acquisition of the two-manual vintage (1870) Walker organ (MAC2025) in the Church of St. Lawrence, will spur a trend away from small 10-15 stop Baroque-style tracker organs, and towards more variety and more versatile instruments in Hong Kong and Macau. 

A second Casavant in Macau, added to the Census early this year, was installed in the Academy of Music St. Pio X. This instrument (MAC2026a) is not only a Casavant Inspiration model organ, but has a third manual and provision for a large Viscount Unico organ as an electronic adjunct.  

Finally, another Casavant Inspiration model organ was installed back in 2019 in the Macau Baptist Church. MAC2019 is identical to the organ in the Macau’s Church of St. Dominic. 

 

Organs in the Census: 222

Hits This Month: 1,394

Top 10 Countries (What happened in Singapore? Data skimming??):