Ripon Cathedral’s Summer Organ Festival

Next month sees the launch of Ripon Cathedral’s Summer Organ Festival, one of the highlights of our 1350th anniversary year.

On the evening of June 21 we welcome back to the cathedral the internationally acclaimed Scott Brothers Duo. With Tom on piano and Jonathan playing the organ, their YouTube channel has attracted more than 46 million views; it’s a double act which uses animations to draw its audience into the world of classical music and will see the premiere of A Cathedral’s Story. On the afternoon of June 21 the brothers are holding a free family concert/workshop introducing young people both to the organ and to classical music.

Here they talk about their forthcoming visit to Ripon…

You’ve played in venues all over the world – how does Ripon Cathedral compare and what does playing here mean for you?

We’ve got to know it so well and there is so much to discover, it’s just a special place to perform in…

Tom: It’s just a fantastic space. We have performed here before alongside animations and it’s a space that works really well for this combination. we’ve got to know it so well and there is so much to discover, it’s just a special place to perform in.

Jonathan: In lockdown we recorded an on-line concert at the cathedral which was great, the organ is fantastic and we had over 100,000 views for that, so it’s just brilliant to be able to share that instrument with everyone. The organ will go down to a whisper, which you can hardly hear – right up to the point where you can probably hear it down the road, so it’s an absolutely huge range of sound but the proximity of where Tom sits means the audience hear the piano really well. They are such amazing instruments, the power and sound they produce, but normally that’s the use of them in a cathedral – they play for the choir, some very quiet playing and sometimes to accompany the entire congregation singing as loud as they can