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Chris Powell has firmly established himself as one of the UK’s
premier ‘entertainment organists’ as well as a truly international
ambassador in the field of electronic and theatre organ music. Born
in Manchester in 1971, he emigrated to New Zealand with his parents
when just 2 years old. Returning to England at the age of 5, his
education and formative years while growing up in Lancashire saw him
pursue his love of music with piano and organ studies culminating in
a string of engagements for both local concerts and dances from the
age of 14 onwards. By the time he was 18, he had successfully
auditioned to join the team of organists playing for dancing at the
Tower Ballroom Blackpool and began to be recognised for his musical
talents leading to a succession of invitations to perform at
electronic and pipe organ venues.
Following his experience at Blackpool, Chris widened his talents
to include work as a demonstrator for several manufacturers
including Farfisa, Orla and more recently Roland with whom he his
now associated on a freelance basis as a demonstrator and as such
tours with their brand new, state of the art AT-900C Atelier
instrument.
1994 saw as invitation to return to New Zealand for a month long
concert tour on pipes and electronics which lead to an exciting
invitation to spend all of 1996 as a Resident Organist at the
‘Baycourt Theatre’ in Tauranga. This was a unique and exciting
experience in which, while accompanied by his then fiancée Marie
Allsopp, he undertook all manner of concerts, functions and dances
while playing the Theatre’s 10 rank Wurlitzer as well as
accompanying the Operetta – ‘The Merry Widow’ on this much loved
vintage instrument.
Since then, he has gone on to become one of the most popular
performers in the UK and intersperses his regular annual diary of
engagements in Britain with frequent overseas concert tours with
have included Holland, Australia and the US as well as NZ in recent
years. Chris was also interviewed and filmed in action for a
documentary on cinema nostalgia which screened in NZ last winter.
Future visits to the Netherlands, New Zealand and Australia are
already in the diary again for 2008.
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In conjunction with
Weardale Railway’s “War on the Line” event, enjoy an evening of
film, music and memories of the war years at the New Victoria Centre
on Tuesday, 14 September at 7.30pm. Tickets are available from NETOA
Ticket Sales Officer, David Kirkbride on 01388 762 467. |
Richard was born in 1980 and, having shown an early interest in the
organ, commenced piano studies at the age of six. Having heard the
Wurlitzer organ of the Thursford Collection in Norfolk, England at
the age of seven Richard became hooked on the sound of these
instruments and began to study both theatre and classical organ with
John Norris.
In 1995 at the age of 14 Richard was the over-all winner of the
ATOS international Young Theatre Organist of the year competition in
Detroit, Michigan. He returned to the United States the following
year to perform at the 1996 ATOS convention in Pasadena, L.A. Since
then, he has been a featured artist at five international ATOS
conventions, giving his debut concert in 1998 at the Oakland
Paramount theatre in California at the age of 17. In addition to
these and other performances in the US, Richard has played
throughout the British Isles, in Holland and Germany, and undertook
a four-week concert tour of Australia in August and September 1999.
He has appeared many times on national and international radio and
TV and has several recording credits.
In 1994 Richard was awarded the Organ Scholarship at King’s
School in Rochester, England, and studied the classical organ at the
Cathedral there with William Whitehead. Following this, Richard
became the Organ Scholar of Exeter College at Oxford University
where he studied the classical organ with David Sanger.
Having completed his studies at Oxford, Richard spent a year as
the Organ Scholar of Portsmouth Cathedral before being appointed to
the Organ Scholarship of London’s Westminster Abbey, where he
performed regularly on the five-manual Harrison & Harrison organ and
worked with the world-famous Abbey choir.
Richard left Westminster in September 2004 and is now pursuing a
career as a freelance musician. In addition to his theatre and
classical organ performances, he is currently Assistant Organist at
St Mary's, Bourne Street; a central London church renowned for its
Anglo-Catholic Liturgy, London. Richard is a Fellow of the Royal
College of Organists. |
Since
the organ was first played in its present home in 1986, many
thousands of visitors have come along to enjoy the sights and sounds
of the 'Mighty' Wurlitzer in the hands of some of the finest
exponents of the instrument. Now extensively restored, with
the aid of a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, extra ranks of
original pipework have been added and other changes made to the
Wurlitzer to further enhance its versatility.