Christmas organ concert at Rochdale Town Hall

Jonathan Scott's Christmas organ concert at Rochdale Town Hall

Packed out and sold out, it was a case of no room at the inn at Jonathan Scott’s Christmas organ concert on 18 December. The newly restored Great Hall at Rochdale Town Hall was packed with eager organ aficionados. And they were not disappointed.

Over one hundred years ago this magnificent instrument by James Jepson Binns (donated by Alderman Sir Samuel Turner JP) made its debut on the visit of their Majesties King George V and Queen Mary, 9th July 1913. Paying tribute to it, the soloist commented that it was an outstanding instrument in an equally outstanding building.

Trained at Chetham’s and the Royal Northern College of Music, USA and the Netherlands, Jonathan, now associated artist at the Bridgewater Hall also gave a live organ solo BBC Prom in August 2024 at The Royal Albert Hall.

Jonathan is one of those rare performers who has consummate ability and a popular touch able to engage readily with an audience. He skillfully introduced and guided us through the varied orchestral sounds and combinations at his disposal. He has played the Binns instrument many times. He affectionately remembered as a young student paying 50p per hour to practise and later notably made a definitive video recording of playing it just before the pandemic.

We started straight in with Jonathan’s Festival Overture on Christmas Themes. This whetted our appetites as he ran the gamut of registrations and sounds.

The refined and effective Echo Noel by Daquin was followed by the famous Winter concerto from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, all the more dramatic in Jonathan’s organ transcription. Stephen Adams’ The Holy City was beautifully phrased. Rimsky-Korsakov’ Polonaise from the opera Christmas Eve, Waldteufel’s Skaters’ Waltz, Yon’s Gesu Bambino all highlighted the orchestral qualities of our civic instrument. The masterful arrangements by Jonathan culminated in another of his own compositions, Christmas Celebration, a seasonal delight.

By way of an encore Jonathan was joined by his brother Tom (himself a distinguished pianist and composer) dressed as an elf. He filmed the performance so it could be seen on their YouTube (their Scott Brother Duo videos have achieved more than 85 million views!).

They treated us to the bonus of a musical Christmas crackers game, where Jonathan played a well-known classical work which then acted as an accompaniment or counterpoint to a carol – audience members had to name both. The hilarity and fun belied the considerable skill of the organist to combine these themes convincingly.

For organ and music lovers, there could not have been a better Christmas gift.

Jonathan is also the honorary president of Oldham, Rochdale and Tameside Organists’ Association, founded in 1908. They will resume their mission to promote organ music and the town hall instrument in 2025 beginning with:

Saturday 25 January at 3pm - Gordon Stewart, concert organist

Saturday 22 February at 3pm - Paul Hale, concert organist, consultant, and former Southwell Minster organist

Joe Dawson