Booking is now open for the British Institute of Organ Studies 50th anniversary conference in Oxford. 9th-11th April 2026.
The conference will be based at Wadham College, Oxford, a seventeenth-century foundation located in the heart of Oxford’s “dreaming spires”.
The draft programme, subject to change is:
Thursday 9th April
12:00 Conference registration begins in Wadham College
14:00-15:30 Session I: Wadham College, the Okinaga Room
- The Rev Dr Nicholas Thistlethwaite: Opening remarks.
- Alex Shinn: The English Organ Impeded. The radical influence of the reformed Church of Zürich on organs during the Edwardian and Elizabethan Reformations.
- Randall Engle: Sound Theology.
Coffee/tea break
15.50-17.30 Session II: Wadham College Chapel
- David Force, lecture-recital: The ‘New College’ Consort Organ.
- Michael Bennett, lecture-recital: Performance Practice in the music of John Bull.
18:30-19:30 Dinner in Wadham College New Refectory
20:00 Keble College Chapel.
Organ recital: Katelyn Emerson
Friday 10th April
09:00-10:45 Session III: Brasenose College, Amersi Lecture Theatre,
- John Maidment: Made in Britain: the British influence upon organs and organ building in Australia
- Alan Eben: Towards a Scholarly Organ Culture in India: Lessons from history and the path ahead.
- Jonathan Hughes: Agency: The Importation of British Organs and Their Place in South African Colonial Society (1883-1924).
Coffee/tea break
11:00-12:15 Session IV: Brasenose College Chapel
- William McVicker, Christian Wilson, Alex Flood: An arranged marriage? The 2025 Orgues de Facto organ in Brasenose Chapel.
- Anthony Williams, Lecture-Recital: The British Influence in the Organ Music of Fela Sowande.
12:15-12:50 Sandwich lunch, Brasenose College Chapel
13:00 The Queen’s College Chapel
John Rowntree: The Role of The Queen’s College Organ in the English Organ Reform.
13:10-13:50 The Queen’s College Chapel
Organ Recital: Daniel Moult (open to the public, no charge)
14:15-15:45 Session V: Wadham College, Okinaga Room
- John Dixon: A Report from America.
- Owen Woods: Harrison organs in colonial and independent Nigeria.
- David Brown: Tropical Adaptations: Trinidad’s Surviving English Pipe Organs.
Coffee/tea break
16:00-17:30 Session VI: Wadham College, Okinaga Room
- Zsombor Tóth-Vajna: Fantasia Restored: Traces of the Stylus Phantasticus in English Restoration Organ Music.
- Mie Berg: The Victorian organ in Norway.
- Paul Tindall: John Hanson Sperling, church builder and organ enthusiast. New investigations, and a possible new source.
18:30 Wadham College, Antechapel and Cloisters
Drinks reception
19:15: Wadham College Hall
Conference dinner: Sir Andrew Parmley – speaker
Dress code: jacket & tie
21:20 Wadham College Chapel
After-dinner organ recital: Margaret Phillips
Saturday 11th April
09:00-11:00 Session VII: Wadham College, Okinaga Room
- Jonathan Ambrosino: Colonial Whims: English influence in North American organ building.
- Andrew McCrea: The Organ Music Society and aspects of ‘Reform’ in 1930s London.
- David Knight: Attitudes to imported organs 1975 to 2025.
Coffee/tea break
11:30-13:00 Session VIII: Okinaga Room, Wadham College
We welcome members of the Organ Club who will be with us for this session, chaired by William McVicker.
- Bruce Buchanan
- Panel discussion: The Organ: Past, Present, Future.
Alan Thurlow : Nicholas Thistlethwaite : John Rowntree : John Brennan : Jonathan Ambrosino,
John Maidment : Jonathan Rennert : Michael Koenig : Katelyn Emerson
Booking
Because of the multiple options, booking is only by completing the booking form. It can be a semi-online process as the PDF document at the link below can be completed while the form is open on your computer. Text information can be typed on-screen, tick boxes completed with an ‘X’, and the completed form then saved to your computer. It can then be printed and posted, or emailed directly to meetings@bios.org.uk.
Alternatively, the form can be downloaded, printed and then completed by hand and posted. Any special dietary or accommodation access requirements should be entered on page 3 and also noted in any covering email.
Payments should preferably be bank transfers to:
- Account name: British Institute of Organ Studies
- Sort code: 52-30-44
- Account no: 05097169
It is essential to include a reference of your surname. If you are paying from a non-UK account, you will also need the IBAN reference of GB64NWBK52304405097169 and the BIC code of NWBKGB2L. Ensure bank charges are pre-paid.
Attendees unable to pay either by cheque drawn on UK bank or bank transfer can pay by card using the link https://bios.org.uk/donate-to-the-npor/. This is not encouraged as it costs BIOS significant card processing fees on these larger amounts. If you have no other option, select ‘One-Off’, the amount ‘Other’, and enter the total to be paid. Using the ‘Write a note option’ enter BIOS50 as a reference. Gift Aid is not applicable to a conference booking. Cheques (drawn on a UK bank account) can be posted to the meetings officer at the address at the end of this form. For all single bookings, please fill out a separate form for each person attending.
To access the booking form click the button below or enter the link below it into your browser.
https://bios.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/BookingGBO2026_g.pdf
All bookings should be confirmed and paid by Friday 13th March. Late bookings for day attendance may be possible but it is unlikely that college accommodation can be secured.
Thanks to the BIOS committee for all their work in putting this together
Many thanks also to the BIOS special projects fund and to the Champniss Foundation for their financial help with the conference.
For everything other than bookings, the conference email address is 50@bios.org.uk