Hull's 'Voice' gets a new player at City Hall

Hull has always had a big organ, and it's about to get a lot more attention. Dr Carol Williams has taken over as the Hull City Hall organist, and she's bringing the 'Voice of Hull' back to life. The instrument itself is a bit of a local legend: installed in 1911 and built by Forster and Andrews, right here in Hull, it's the third largest concert organ in the UK, with more than 6,000 pipes, around 140 stops, percussion instruments and a massive 64-foot Gravissima. It opened with a recital by Edwin Lemare on 30 March 1911, and it's been part of the city's musical life ever since.

The building around it has a history of its own. Hull City Hall sits in Queen Victoria Square in the city centre and was designed by Joseph Henry Hirst, Hull's first city architect, with work starting in 1903. The hall was in use by 1909, though the exact opening date is not known, and it's survived a fair bit of trouble. A 1941 air raid all-but destroyed the place; organist Philip Chignell, who'd been to a concert the night before, thought he'd seen the last one in that hall, but he was proved wrong. The hall reopened in 1948 after refurbishment to both the building and the organ, and the pair were restored again in 1951 following the war damage.

Dr Williams is a serious appointment. Born in the UK in 1962, she's an internationally acclaimed concert organist and composer of Welsh musical heritage, she holds dual US citizenship and lives in England. She studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London, specialising in organ performance under David Sanger, then did postgraduate work at Yale University with Thomas Murray and her doctorate at the Manhattan School of Music in New York. In 2001 she became the first woman ever named Civic Organist in the United States, serving as San Diego Civic Organist and Artistic Director of the Spreckels Organ Society there from 2001 to around 2016 or 2017. In Hull, she'll keep the midday showcase programme going and push the organ's reach further, including live concerts in America via her Facebook page. A concert she gave in the hall on Saturday 12 September was broadcast live on Facebook, so the plan is already in motion.

If you want to hear it for yourself, the Hull City Hall Lunchtime Organ Showcase carries on monthly. The next one is on Wednesday 4 November, 12:30 to 13:30, with Peter King, Organist Emeritus of Bath Abbey, playing Respighi, Bach, Schumann, Ligeti, Saint-Saens and Iain Farrington, and it's £5 to get in. There's also a performance on 28 October from 19:30 to 21:30 at the hall in Queen Victoria Square, and another on 2 December from 12:30 to 13:30. If you can't make it in person, there's a Facebook Live stream on 31 October from 13:00 to 14:00. It's a good excuse to spend a lunchtime in the city centre and hear one of the biggest organs in the country actually being played.