A lot of people know where the Feather Market Centre is but I bet very few have seen the very impressive organ that adorns the front of the main hall. The concert hall pipe organ was inaugurated in June 1999 and cost R2,6m at the time. The organ stands 14 meters high, 10 meters wide and 4,5 meters deep, weighs 20 tons and has 5508 pipes. Pretty impressive.
The organ was designed by Prof Albert Troskie, built by local organ builder Jan Pekelharing and is a combination of old and new. The nucleus of the organ consist of the old 1892 Norman & Beard organ which was situated in the adjacent Shelly Hall. The facade of this organ is still visible in the hall. In addition to this the pipes of an 1880 Forster & Andrews organ from Durban was installed along with a significant number of new stops. The rest of the organ is all new with the organ facade’s decorated wood carved panels taking ten local woodcarvers two years to complete. The organ gets used in at least 9 recitals every year by both South African as well as international organists.
I was invited to view the organ with a couple of local tourist guides and we had the immense pleasure to have Prof Troskie play the organ for us while we were there. Truly a privilege.
That's a beauty!
Lovely organ….and the music they produce is soooo dramatic and inspiring. have you heard this one?
Firefly, I think you may want to check your info about this organ. I think this organ was installed in 1999, when the FMH was renovated, and was built by Jan Pekelharing; parts of the original organ were actually used in the new instrument, so the old organ pipes still seen in the other hall, are only decorative. Louise
I wondered about this organ – I remember the original Feathre Market Hall organ being in the original hall next door, not here. The original organ used to accompany the Collegiate carol service every year, until the stage became too weak to carry our weight.
ts soo nyc and u fil free whn you there
Amazing and wonderful! How did it sound? Love your angle in this shot.
Very well done shot. Very lucky of you to have the chance to see and hear it too! The Feather Market has some interesting history. Thanks for sharing!
I'll bet the room fills with palpable sound. Amazing.