Organ

The design phase was a particularly important one – the hundreds of drawings which would not have come to be if it had not been for modern technology supporting drawing and calculations
Julian Gembalski, author of the NOSPR organ concept

Blending the richness of Silesian organ traditions with the greatest achievements of French organ masters, the NOSPR organ bridges the local and the global.

Uroczystość otwarcia nowej siedziby NOSPR dzieli od koncertu inaugurującego nasze organy 3026 dni. Długo? Przytoczmy kilka liczb. Instrument jest wielkości domu piętrowego i składa się z blisko miliona ręcznie wyprodukowanych części. Oznacza to, że każdej doby, licząc od otwarcia NOSPR do koncertu inaugurującego organy, warsztat Antona Škrabla musiał zaprojektować, wyprodukować i zmontować 330 części. Pracując non stop, budowniczowie mieliby więc ok. 4,5 minuty na produkcję i montaż każdego elementu.

Mechanics in the service of music

Until the telephone switch began operation at the turn of the 19th century, the organ had been considered the most complex mechanism ever designed by humankind. This is no ordinary instrument, but an enormous physical machine forming an organic unity with its space, dependent on the latter and reacting to the changes it undergoes. It is little wonder that making an organ requires no fewer than twenty specialists in various fields cooperating, and the final result is predominantly the fruit of work done with their ears and hands.

Countless hours of consulting and research done by Julian Gembalski, the author of the NOSPR organ concept, Anton Škrabl, the main builder, and Tomasz Konior, the architect of the NOSPR seat, gave rise to a monumental instrument in the style of French symphonism, 13 metres tall, 9 metres wide, and 6 metres deep, comprising 108 ranks and two consoles, one of which is enhanced with a German-style manual.

Contemporary means open

Although the NOSPR organ features multiple solutions inspired by the legends of the Rouen or the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedrals, it is predominantly a contemporary instrument, worthy of the 21st century. Contemporary means versatile – one opening up millions of opportunities for us, enabling us to reach for music from the great masters of the past with no restraint, just as easily as we reach forward, preparing us for music which we are, as of today, not even capable of imagining.