Philharmonic celebration of an organ

The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra makes a summer guest appearance at Stockholm City Hall this Sunday afternoon in August, marking the centenary of the City Hall organ in the Blue Hall – the largest pipe organ in Scandinavia. The instrument was inaugurated in 1925, two years after the building itself was completed.

Architect Ragnar Östberg had originally envisioned a grand organ, but when the construction ran over budget, there were no funds left for it. Thanks to a generous donation from businessman Oscar Hirsch, the organ – with its remarkable 10,000 pipes – was eventually realised.

The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra performs Francis Poulenc’s famous Organ Concerto with Mattias Wager as soloist, along with an overture by Elfrida Andrée.