{"id":116241,"date":"2025-07-24T15:42:04","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T19:42:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=116241"},"modified":"2025-07-28T14:25:23","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T18:25:23","slug":"feature-royal-canadian-college-organists-summer-organ-academy-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2025\/07\/24\/feature-royal-canadian-college-organists-summer-organ-academy-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"FEATURE | The Royal Canadian College Of Organists Summer Organ Academy 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Participants
Participants and instructors from the Royal Canadian College of Organists Summer Organ Academy 2025 (Photo courtesy of RCCO)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Royal Canadian College Of Organists\u2019 Summer Organ Academy wrapped up on July 19 with a concert that showcased the participants. For a week, 18 students (a full complement) benefited from one-on-one instruction, masterclasses, and practice time at a number of churches in Toronto.<\/p>\n

For many of the young musicians, it was a chance to connect as well as to learn, and take valuable insights from instructors Anne Laver, Aaron Tan, John Paul Farahat, Jonathan Oldengarm, and David Simon, along with guest lecturers Aaron James, Kathleen Allan, and Ben Dobyns. (The latter was also one of the participants.)<\/p>\n

RCCO Summer Organ Academy Participants<\/h3>\n

LvT talked to a few of the participants to ask about their involvement with the instrument, and the Summer Organ Academy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI came to Toronto to study music from India,\u201d explains Anindyo Das<\/strong>. He studied piano and harpsichord, and the pipe organ\u2019s versatility struck him as remarkable. \u201cIt\u2019s as if I was singing,\u201d he says, describing the feeling of playing before a church congregation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are playing what is essentially a big machine,\u201d Das adds. \u201cYou can do so many things.\u201d As he notes, every organ, even if equipped with similar stops, sounds different because of the differing environments they are housed in.<\/p>\n

Ashley Tenbrinke<\/strong> is a native of Calgary, Alberta. \u201cI\u2019ve kind of always had an interest,\u201d she says of her involvement with the pipe organ. She\u2019s been playing the piano since the age of 6, and the pipe organ since the age of 16, and since then, she\u2019s seen an uptick in interest in the instrument. That\u2019s not the situation she started with. \u201cI didn\u2019t know anybody around my own age,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

The week long Summer Organ Academy is a chance to get together with likeminded people in her own age group. \u201cI really love it,\u201d Ashley says.<\/p>\n

Carl Christiansson<\/strong> comes to the Summer Academy all the way from Stockholm, Sweden. He began playing the pipe organ about three years ago after studying piano to a bachelor\u2019s degree. His initial ambition was to become a r\u00e9p\u00e9titeur in the field of opera.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy accident, I discovered the organ,\u201d Carl says. It was a teacher who persuaded him to move beyond the piano to synthesizers, and then the pipe organ. He agrees that there\u2019s an increased interest in the instrument over the last few years. \u201cI think there\u2019s really a trend,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

He describes a situation in Sweden where the official separation of church and state occurred in 2000, and had a ripple effect of discouraging involvement in the church, and by extension playing the pipe organ, for about a generation. As a result, there are several hundred organist\u2019s positions that will be opening up within the next few years as an older generation retires.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got a job in one month,\u201d Christiansson says, \u201cfrom going from a desperate pianist trying to stay alive every month.\u201d He appreciates the opportunity to bump up his skills at the Summer Organ Academy. \u201cFor me, it\u2019s been super important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like many of the other participants, Burnaby BC native Ben Dobyns<\/strong> came to the pipe organ incidentally.<\/p>\n

\u201cAccidentally,\u201d he says. \u201cI was trained as a jazz pianist,\u201d he says. \u201cI got pulled in as an untrained organist right out of college.\u201d He began playing at a church, but had another career in mind. Ben spent about two decades working in the film industry. At the end of that period, he was getting frustrated with the roller coaster nature of that business, and made the switch to full-time musician in 2021. That\u2019s when his involvement with the Royal Canadian College of Organists began, and he\u2019s now the Director of Marketing for the organization, as well as a participant in the Summer Organ Academy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI finally get to learn how to play the instrument,\u201d he jokes. The week-long Academy is just the place to do that. \u201cIt\u2019s incredibly valuable, because it\u2019s the opportunity to laser focus,\u201d he says. He mentions also the benefits of learning from multiple teachers. \u201cNow, I have a year\u2019s worth of work from one week of lessons,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

As a board member of the RCCO, he\u2019s seen a rise in interest in the instrument overall. \u201cI think it is becoming more popular,\u201d he says. He mentions the uber-popular Interstellar tour by organist Roger Sayer<\/a>, which saw diverse, multi-generational audiences sell out the concert series across Canada. Outside the formal context of the church, music lovers are enthusiastic about discovering the pipe organ and its capabilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think our job is to create those opportunities,\u201d Ben says.<\/p>\n

Luca Morresi<\/strong> is a Toronto native. \u201cI go to St. Michael\u2019s Choir School,\u201d he says. There, the organ is a big part of music programming, and he began to play the instrument there in about grade six. \u201cIt\u2019s a pretty rare opportunity,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

The intensive is a networking opportunity as well. \u201cI wanted to come here because I wanted to see other people who play organ and who are passionate about it,\u201d Luca explains.<\/p>\n

Elias McWalter<\/strong> comes from Saskatoon, SK, and got into the pipe organ by happenstance. \u201cIt kind of fell into my lap,\u201d he says. He explains that his father began attending church, and brought him along to a concert where the organist performed with a cellist.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was kind of hanging around [afterwards],\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

He was already a piano player, and after a little conversation, he was allowed to experiment on the organ \u2014 with the stops and volume turned low. As he played a piece by CPE Bach, however, the other musicians began to open up the stops and encourage him. \u201cI had three or four people offering lessons,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Meeting other people his own age at the Summer Academy is important. \u201cThere\u2019s a very small community in Saskatoon,\u201d Elias says. Getting one-on-one instruction is another major perk.<\/p>\n

He reports that membership in RCCO Saskatoon has doubled in the last few years. \u201cI think I\u2019m part of that growing interest [in the pipe organ],\u201d he laughs.<\/p>\n

\"Participants
Participants from the Royal Canadian College of Organists Summer Organ Academy 2025 (Photo courtesy of RCCO)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sarah Svendsen, Artistic Director<\/h3>\n

In her position as AD of the Summer Organ Academy, Sarah Svendsen has definitely noticed a growing interest in the pipe organ. \u201cI think there\u2019s been a strong uptick because of some social media influencers,\u201d she says. People like Anna Lapwood<\/a> have raised the instrument\u2019s profile among a whole new generation of music lovers.<\/p>\n

At the RCCO, she says they accept organists of all kinds, church related or not. \u201cWe focus on playing skills, community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Across Canada, she says that access to organ education is a major issue, and many organists are limited to part-time careers. \u201cMany people are looking for immersive opportunities,\u201d she says. \u201cOne of the challenges we face is access to instruments.\u201d<\/p>\n

She notes that the RCCO is grateful to all the church sponsors who give them access to those instruments for educational efforts at a discounted rate. With the full complement of 13 participants in the Organ Academy this year, to deliver the full programming, which includes masterclasses, lessons, and practice time, takes up about 72 hours of organ access per day.<\/p>\n

Final Thoughts: The Concert<\/h3>\n

The week-long intensive ended with a concert at the Rosedale United Church in Toronto\u2019s leafy north end neighbourhood. Thirteen of the participants performed;<\/p>\n