Organist celebrates more than 56 years of performing at Kelvingrove Museum

The Scotsman

Organist celebrates more than 56 years of performing at Kelvingrove Museum  Today,  14 May, organist Bill Hutcheson celebrates more than 56 years of performing at Kelvingrove’s world-famous daily organ recitals — a beloved tradition that began with his very first performance on 22 October 1969.  As part of Glasgow’s 850th anniversary programme, this special recital  honours Bill’s remarkable contribution to the city’s cultural life.  Exactly fifty years ago, on 14 May 1975, Bill played as part of the celebrations marking Glasgow’s 800th anniversary. Now, five decades later, he returns to the same organ to help mark this new civic milestone.  The Lord Provost of Glasgow, Jacqueline McLaren, presented Bill with a commemorative plate in recognition of his outstanding service.  The famous Kelvingrove Museum recital series — which holds the world record for the longest-running free daily organ recital — has been enjoyed by generations. This event celebrated Bill’s milestone, and the enduring power of live music in public spaces.

Transcript

00:00My name is Bill Hutchison, I'm one of the team of organists here in Kelvin Grove Art

00:25Galleries. I started in 1969 with my first formal organ recital arranged by the Glacial

00:33Society of Organists of which I'm not only a member, I'm also an honorary member now

00:41and I've been president twice in the past. I've been a lifelong organist since I was 12

00:46and I first had a go at this organ in 1964 when a member of staff here who was able to

00:59organise a trip for me to have a wee go in the evening and I became hooked. I did my first

01:07recital in 1969 and I'm now 510 recitals on the list since then. It's an original T.C. Lewis,

01:20it's been untouched, it's not been meddled with, it was very very well restored some years ago now

01:28and the beauty of it is that it's a fine example of Victorian organ building. It's very very versatile,

01:36you can play anything on it and in fact you can play anything from classical to what you could

01:43say was laughingly improper music. Fifty years ago it was Glasgow 800 and I had the recital on the 14th of

01:53May. Today, this is the 14th of May and it's also a Wednesday and it's Glasgow 850. Fifty years later,

02:02here we are. Sadly, the other organists who were along in that series are no longer with us so I'm

02:09the only survivor of the five players who played that season. Any recitals that stand out?

02:17That's very very tricky. I suppose my 50th anniversary in here because I'm playing a piece that was commissioned

02:25for me by the family and that was in 2019. That's when I've been playing here 50 years. I'm now 55 years.

02:34What events have you played at that? I played the weekend the Queen Mother had died and was lying in

02:41state and had to change my programme very swiftly and at the end I put in the national anthem. I was hoping

02:50for no applause and right enough there was none but there was a Royal Navy wedding party in and they

02:58stood to attention. So it was quite an interesting experience.

03:03There are quite a number of young people coming through and some very very skillful players who

03:17play in here and they play in Edinburgh and all over the place. It used to be there's maybe a couple of

03:23organ students in the academy in Glasgow, the Conservatoire, but there's now I believe 17.

03:29So there's a revival of interest. But it's quite a noisy building because there's hundreds of people.

03:36There's a sheer variety of tone and variety of pieces that you can play and you're entertaining,

03:44you're educating. It's not a place of worship so you couldn't get away with anything.

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