The Tywyn Wurlitzer

Built in Tonawanda, New York State in the United States of America, the 3-manual 9-rank Wurlitzer Organ was originally installed in the Granada Cinema, Woolwich in South East London in 1937 where it was officially opened by no less a personality than Reginald Dixon, best known to everyone as ‘Mr Blackpool’.

NEWS

Our concerts are now attracting regular and large audiences to our smartly renovated hall, which is receiving widespread commendation in the area.

We only present the top organists in the UK and sometimes from abroad. The fame of Tywyn’s Wurlitzer Organ means that it is sometimes difficult to choose from the many organists attracted by its reputation.

In particular we are grateful to our good friend, organist David Lowe, who played the opening concert in 1996, and is often around helping in its maintenance and in particular with the tuning, which is so important. To tune the organ completely can take up to four or five hours – sometimes not helped by a pipe being extremely reluctant to be tuned, which can take up to ten minutes to sort! David also regularly tunes other Theatre organs throughout the UK.

Since the opening in 1996 there have been several improvements to the organ, including the addition of the Orchestral Oboe, which was acquired from the USA, and the phantom piano, a 1910 Bluthner Grand modified to be playable from an organ console in the 1930s. It still needs some improvement, and can, of course, be played as a conventional piano, which often happens when needed by other users of the Hall.

2016 will be the 20th birthday of the Wurlitzer here at Tywyn, and we are beginning to think of ways to celebrate the achievement. Watch this space!

The organ is available for private practice at reasonable fees subject to the availability of the Hall. It is also available for use for parties and other events at the Hall. Just contact John Smallwood on 01654 710994.

Thank you for your interest and support. We hope to see you at our events.