Mander Organs
Mander Organs is an English pipe organ maker and refurbisher based in London. Although well known for many years in the organ building industry, they achieved wider notability in 2004 with the refurbishment of the Royal Albert Hall's Father Willis Grand Organ.
Mander has built and installed numerous celebrated organs, notably the 68-stop four manual and pedal organ in the Church of St Ignatius Loyola, New York – reportedly the largest mechanical action built by a British builder. Simon Preston said of this instrument: "It is difficult to do justice to this famous instrument in a couple of sentences; suffice to say that to look at this beautiful instrument is to know the sound that will come out of it."[1]
New Mander organs are generally tracker action, which enables the player to give somewhat more expression and removes the delays which are inherent in many electrically actuated organs.
The company was founded in 1936 by Noel Mander. An early setback was the loss of the organ he was working on, along with all his tools, in the first air raid of the Blitz in 1940. The rebuilding of church organs after World War II provided significant business for the company.
The firm is now run by John Mander, Noel Mander's son. Its organs are installed throughout the world, including in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the Middle East, Scandinavia and the United States, as well as in the UK.
Some Mander organs
- Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury
- National Churchill Museum, Westminster College, USA
- Fulton, Missouri, USA
- Church of St. Ignatius Loyola (New York City)[2]
- Royal Albert Hall, London, England
- St. Paul's Cathedral, London, England
- Colfe's School, London, England
- Urakami Cathedral, Nagasaki, Japan
- St. Andrew's University, Osaka, Japan
- Sydney Grammar School, Australia
- St Bartholomew the Great Priory Church, London
- St Peter's Church, St Albans, Hertfordshire
- St John's College Chapel, Cambridge
- St Paul's, Bow Common church, London