The Harvard Organ Society, an official student organization of Harvard College, welcomes all who love the pipe organ and its music! Harvard students form the core of the Society’s membership, yet many friends from the wider community play a vital role in the Society’s activities.
Among other activities—such as sponsoring Harvard's famous midnight Halloween concert—the Society organizes visits to notable instruments throughout the Boston area and wider New England. In Fall 2013, its members performed in several concerts on campus and in Boston, sharing their love of organ music with the wider community. A two-week study trip to France and the Netherlands is planned for Spring 2014.
Nearly twenty students actively study the "King of Instruments" on campus, utilizing the 1929 Skinner and 2012 C.B. Fisk organs in the Memorial Church, as well as the famous 1958 Flentrop in Adolphus Busch Hall. Christian Lane, Associate University Organist and Choirmaster, teaches all interested students and also leads a weekly "organ class," during which Harvard organists practice performance skills, engage common topics such as improvisation, service playing, and body awareness, and build community and collegiality.
Additionally, the Organ Society hosts the weekly lunchtime recital series on Thursdays at 12:15 pm in Adolphus Busch Hall and a biweekly concert series in Memorial Church on Tuesday evenings during termtime; it also recently sponsored masterclasses with international artists James David Christie, Olivier Latry, Madame Marie-Louis Langlais, and Nathan Laube.
Those with questions—or anyone interested in joining the Society!—are encouraged to email President Laura Gullett '16 at HarvardOrganSociety@gmail.com.
Harvard Organ Society Leadership
Laura Gullett '16, President
Karen Christianson '17, Vice-President
Christian Haigh '17, Treasurer
Zak Fletcher '15, Recitals Coordinator
Edward Elwyn Jones, Gund University Organist and Choirmaster
Prof. Thomas Kelly, Faculty Advisor
Website: www.hcs.harvard.edu/organ