Organs

AN EXCEPTIONAL HERITAGE

/// In Occitanie, a lot of energy goes into promoting our organs!

The Occitanie region has a rich heritage of more than 500 instruments of different periods and aesthetic styles, which attract many organ and music lovers every year.

Traditionally, our Region has been home to several great families of organ builders, whose instruments have been exported all over the world. Today, there are still around ten organ specialists who continue to create and service the instruments.

Alongside them, many organists, associations of organ devotees, and individual music lovers enthusiastically promote this unique heritage.


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TOULOUSE, CITY OF ORGANS

Toulouse has one of the finest collections of organs in Europe. It includes unique historical organs of different styles and periods, including the great Cavaillé-Coll of the Saint-Sernin Basilica. These instruments have benefited from a restoration policy initiated and encouraged by Xavier Darasse and undertaken by the city of Toulouse since the 1970s. Beautifully made new instruments complete the collection, such as the organ built for the Musée des Augustins in 1981 by the great German organ builder Jürgen Ahrend.

There are thus about 30 instruments, including 10 outstanding organs, to be discovered in the city centre alone!

Today, this rich variety of instruments means that organists can perform from all kinds of repertoire, from early to the most contemporary music: works from the Italian 17th century in the chapel of Sainte-Anne, Bach and Nordic baroque in the converted church that is now the Musée des Augustins, Couperin and the French classic composers in the church of Saint-Pierre des Chartreux, and the great symphonic organ repertoire in the Dalbade and Taur churches, or in Saint-Sernin itself!

Last organ news

Orgues

La construction d’orgues en France aujourd’hui

Entretien avec Thierry Semenoux, Technicien-Conseil agréé pour les Orgues... Lire la suite
Orgues

Disparition de Jürgen Ahrend

Cet été, une des figures marquante de la facture d’orgue, Jürgen Ahren... Lire la suite

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ORGAN BUILDERS

Organ builders are those men and women who conceive, design, build, service, tune, repair and restore organs.
Organ building is a high-level craft that requires a range of technical and artistic skills, combined with a creative spirit and a great capacity for adaptation.
A job for elite and devoted craftsmen and women!

More about the organ builders

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LEARN TO PLAY THE ORGAN

Would you like to learn the organ? Whether as a beginner or an advanced student, child or adult, there are several possibilities available..

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STORIES AND ANECDOTES

Organs have a long history, and there are many fascinating anecdotes about them. Do you know the history of the Puget family? Did you know that organs were transported on the Canal du Midi? Find a range of organ stories here!

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ASSOCIATIONS FOR ORGAN ENTHUSIASTS

Associations of Friends of Organs, Associations for organists, towns and cities committed to enhancing the reputations of their organs, organ builders etc. Here we offer a non-exhaustive list of organ-related links!

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