21 May 2022 - A Spectacular Evening!

On the evening of Saturday 21 May, a large and excited audience gathered in the Cathedral to listen to the Gala Organ Concert in aid of the Friends of Wells Cathedral Grand Organ Appeal. The evening’s performer was internationally renowned organ virtuoso, David Briggs, currently Artist in Residence at the Cathedral of St John the Divine in New York City. 

Following a highly entertaining and informative introduction to the programme from Maestro Briggs, the audience was treated to an extremely fine concert including works by Franz Schmidt, Maurice Ravel, Charles-Marie Widor, and an incredibly improvised Scherzo. The second half of the concert was devoted to Briggs’ own transcription of Vaughan-Williams’ Fifth Symphony, which demonstrated the full potential of the Cathedral organ along with a display of musicality and virtuosity which surely left no-one unmoved. 

The concert was enhanced by a video link to the ‘cockpit’, which showed the complexity and physicality involved in such world-class organ playing. We would like to thank everyone who attended the concert, as well as expressing our sincere gratitude to David Briggs. We were truly privileged to welcome to Wells one of the world’s finest organists.