"Heavenly Voices: Mighty Sound" - Our Project Pipeline
Here we will share milestones in our journey to restore and repair our 170 year old Father Willis organ.
We urgently need your support to help secure the future of Carlisle Cathedral’s historic organ. Please consider giving today.
Heavenly Voices: Mighty Sound launched
On Sunday 22 March, an historic project – named “Heavenly Voices: Mighty Sound” – was launched, to restore and repair Carlisle Cathedral’s Father Willis organ.
Please click here to donate to the Organ Project.
Case for Support
Our Case For Support fully explains:
- why we need to restore the organ
- the impact this magnificent instrument has on the people within our city, county and beyond
- how you can support this historic project.
Please share this document with anyone you think would be interested in supporting the project. Thank you.
Project Pipeline
This project is about careful renewal: securing the long-term health, reliability and musical integrity of an instrument of national significance, ensuring it can continue to serve worship, education and cultural life for decades to come.
Due to the nature of the work involved, this project will take the next 2-3 years to complete. This webpage will capture key moments and milestones of this historic project.
Fundraising Evening
Thanks to everyone who joined us, supported us, and continues to champion this vital work. The restoration of our magnificent organ will ensure it continues to inspire generations to come, amplifying voices, storytelling, and community for decades ahead.
Edward Taylor
Edward Taylor, Assistant Organist here at Carlisle Cathedral, played Crown Imperial, William Walton (arr. Edward Taylor).
Edward has been at Carlisle Cathedral since 2008. He previously held posts as Organ Scholar at Ely Cathedral, Leeds Parish Church, Wakefield Cathedral and Portsmouth Cathedral. Alongside his current position, Edward directs the Cathedral Consort and Cantate Children’s Choir. He also plays a major role in the Cathedral’s Outreach scheme in local primary schools.
You can watch this performance here.
Please support our Organ Project click here to donate.
Cantate Children's Choir
Cantate Children’s Choir sang “When You Believe” from The Prince of Egypt and “It’s A Hard Knock Life” from Annie the Musical. You can watch them sing here.
Cantate is the Cathedral’s community choir. It provides an opportunity for children who have taken part in Singing Out, the Cathedral’s Outreach Programme, to continue with the development of their singing. The choir is open to all children: there is no audition. The choir sings a variety of music in a fun and relaxed atmosphere and rehearses on Thursday evenings in the Cathedral. The choir is directed by Edward Taylor, Assistant Organist. The choir sings a varied repertoire across many genres of music including jazz, classical children’s songs, musicals, popular and folk.
An introduction to the project
The Venerable Michael Everitt, Interim Dean of Carlisle, introduced the Heavenly Voices: Mighty Sound project.
The Cathedral Choir
The Carlisle Cathedral Choir dates back at least as far as the new foundation of the Cathedral in 1541. The Cathedral Statutes of 1545 provided for six choristers, ‘boys of tender age, and with sonorous voices and apt at chanting’.
Today, the choir comprises up to sixteen boy choristers, the same number of girl choristers, six regular lay clerks with additional choral scholars and deputy lay clerks. Until 1935 the choristers were educated at the Cathedral’s own choir school; today the children are recruited from local day schools, and each set of choristers attends the Cathedral on alternate Sundays and on two week nights in rotation.
Supporting the project
£1.8 million has already been pledged to this project, including a £1.6 million grant from the Benny Walker Charitable Trust, a significant vote of confidence in the Cathedral’s music, heritage and civic role.
We need to raise the remaining £600,000 from donations, gifts, pledges and grants, enabling the Cathedral to appoint specialist organ builders and move forward responsibly.
Hear more about supporting this project here, from The Venerable Michael Everitt.
We need your support, please click here to donate to the Organ Project. Thank you.
Ernestine Koo
Ernestine Koo played Hymne d’action de grâce “Te Deum” by Jean Langlais.
You can watch Ernestine’s performance here.
The Cathedral Choir
The Carlisle Cathedral Choir sang Surrexit a Mortuis by Charles-Marie Widor.
You can hear them sing here.
Organ Builders Announced
We are delighted to announce that renowned organ builders, Nicholson & Co. Ltd, have been commissioned to work on a major project to restore, rebuild and renew its historic pipe organ, to protect and conserve one of the nation’s most significant musical assets for decades to come.
Read more here.
Happy 170 Birthday to the organ!
170 years ago this week, on 22 June 1856, Carlisle Cathedral was reopened for public worship following a major restoration, which included the restoration of the medieval ceiling accompanied by Owen Jones’s magnificent new design that we continue to treasure today.
The major restoration included the installation of the new Willis organ, which was described in a local newspaper article of the time with great acclaim: “There are very few instruments, we feel confident, that are larger, none more grand in their effects, or more elegant in mechanism, than the new organ; and it may therefore take its place as one of the lions of the North of England.” (The Carlisle Journal, 27 June 1856)
Please do come in and see the stars and the organ on your next visit!
Please click here to donate to the Organ Project. Thank you.
Site visit from Nicholson and Co Ltd
On Wednesday 9 September, we welcomed Jamie and Dan from Nicholson & Co. Ltd into the Cathedral. They have been doing a detailed survey of the instrument to inform the progression of plans. Here they are inspecting some of the pipes from our 170-year-old organ, ahead of its vital restoration. It is fantastic to see these pipes “out in the open”, as usually they are encased within this magnificent instrument.
Grant received from Cumbria Community Foundation through the Geoffrey Blake Architectural Heritage Fund
We’re delighted to share that we have received a £5,000 grant towards supporting ‘Heavenly Voices: Mighty Sound’, Our Organ Restoration Project. This grant was made possible by Cumbria Community Foundation through the Geoffrey Blake Architectural Heritage Fund. Thank you for helping us care for and preserve our heritage for future generations.
