Keeping organised

Martin Setchell might not be able play the city’s pipe organ in Christchurch Town Hall right now, but he's still making music.

He’s survived two massive earthquakes, 10,190 aftershocks and no longer has his own organ to play, so city organist Martin Setchell from Christchurch, New Zealand, is determined to make the most of his concert tours in the USA and Germany this year.

The international concert organist and Associate Professor of Music at the University of Canterbury has not been able to go inside the Christchurch Town Hall to see if the pipe organ for which he is responsible has survived the February 22nd earthquake that devastated the city and killed 181 people. The famous organ, installed in 1997, was in the process of being enlarged by the Austrian firm of Rieger when the quake struck, and although the workers were safe, they had to return home with the job suspended for the time being.

Three other organ builders from the South Island Organ Company working to remove a damaged organ from a church only metres away from the town hall were killed in the quake, and many organs in the province have been destroyed, damaged or are unplayable because the buildings that house them are still out of bounds.

Setchell is naturally concerned about the fate of the organ, and it has been a long three months of waiting before he has finally been given the go-ahead to inspect the organ for damage. This week is the first time anyone will have been into organ in the auditorium. Electricity has not been restored and the building is still inside the Red Zone, (the cordoned-off central city area) so Setchell’s inspection this Tuesday was entirely visual, and, with aftershocks continuing, as brief as possible. His wife Jenny photographed the interior as well the exterior and posted the results on the organ’s website for the organ's thousands of fans worldwide to see.

"Not knowing has been the worst part; but if any organ can withstand these tremors, the Rieger can. " All concerts scheduled for this year have been postponed.

"People are understandably nervous about being under stonework or concrete or any big roof just at the moment," he said. "We all need to be reassured that buildings are safe before we can begin to organise large gatherings once again."

Meanwhile, Setchell has not let the absence of an instrument to play regularly deter him. A local church with a large electronic organ offered him generous practice time, and in return he gave a concert at the church with donations to go towards a organ building trust fund set up by the widow of one of the men killed in the fatal February quake. He also gave the opening concert in the 2011 series on the new Klais organ in Auckland Town Hall, held a number of organ master classes in Hong Kong, culminating in a concert in the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, and had concerts in Australia and New Zealand late last year. Presently Setchell is about to make a short visit to the USA for concerts in San Francisco, Salt Lake City, and Idaho before returning home to New Zealand to give lectures at the university’s School of Music. A Germany tour is scheduled for June-July.

"I’m glad to say that we are now back to teaching inside the music lecture theatres," said Setchell, although there are still other classes being held in tents at the university.

It remains to be seen when Setchell's own pride and joy, the Christchurch Rieger, will return to public life. Certainly not before 2013. But we've got used to waiting, here in Christchurch.

“…combining academic depth with dynamic flair and a rare and happy knack in selecting music that entertains as well as edifies”