Of all the big beasts on the Savannah, there is none larger than the Subcontra C of the principal 32’ of the Hofkirche St. Leodegar Organ in Lucerne. Join intrepid explorers Leah and Simon, and their guide Wolfgang Sieber, as they track down the world's largest organ pipe — a pipe that could swallow you whole.

Organ Safari

Episode 025 — Lucerne

Perhaps we should have called the episode "The Theatre Organ", because the specimens we examine are all American. Pith helmets girded tight, safariers Leah and Simon venture into the wilds of California to study this little-understood animal. 

Episode 024 — The Cinema Organ

In our many years of safariing, this is the craziest piece of pipe organ DIY we have ever come across. Brother Jorge's Organ San Patricio contains parts of dozens of other instruments and has been a lifetime in the making.

Episode 023 — Brother Georg's Organs

His stupefying single-mindedness yet again on display, Simon brings us another contender for the world's oldest organ—this time from the wilds of a Swiss mountaintop. Oldest or not, the organ at the Valère Basilia in Sion, Switzerland is a singularly fascinating beast.

Episode 022 — Sion

Simon rolls a natural twenty on his charisma check to explain to Leah his visit to the wondrous workshop of the Fratelli Ruffatti, prominent international organ builders. In addition to the D&Desque forges and foundries, we learned about the Ruffatti-Canada connection and some inside stories from the Crystal Cathedral.

Episode 021 — Fratelli Ruffatti

We examine a New World species, whose natural habitat is not a cathedral or a hockey arena, but rather it makes its home in the out of doors. The Spreckels Organ in San Diego is the world's largest outdoor organ, and playing and maintaining it can be quite tricky. Come and visit this American landmark with us.

Episode 020 — The Spreckels Organ

Our safari takes us to a church that is keeping the organ popular, and an organ that epitomizes the Reform Movement.

Episode 019 — The Organ Café

The Norrlanda organ, currently in a museum in Stockholm, is reckoned to be the oldest surviving organ fragments in the world. There is a working replica at the Orgelbaumuseum in Ostheim, Germany—a paradisiacal museum dedicated to the building of organs.

Episode 018—Orgelbaumuseum

We investigate the beautiful Renaissance Klangfarbe of a historic instrument in the Wilhelmsburg Castle at Schmaaaaalkalden.

Episode 017—Schmalkalden

Of all the weird species spotted on this safari, there is none stranger than the Europaorgel—a crazy chimera of sounds from all the countries of Europe. Plus some outlandish mutations.

Episode 016 — The Europaorgel

All the beasts of the veldt, or so it seems, have gathered at the Sint Bavo waterhole in Haarlem for the International Organ Festival.

Episode 015 — Haarlem

In an attempt satisfy his Captain-Ahab-esque obsession with finding the oldest organ in the world, Simon journeys to the St Andreas church in Ostönnen.

Episode 014 — St. Andreas

In the last episode involving our experienced wilderness tracker Ed, we visit the Schnitger organ in Hamburg's Jacobikirche. In the words of Albert Schweitzer: "This organ will become the pilgrimage destination of all organists of the old and the new world." Well, it has for at least one lucky Canadian.

Episode 013 — Jacobikirche

Simon spends a day in the bush with the reknowned Walcker tribe, and learns much from their oral history.

Episode 012 - The Famous Mr. Walcker

Buxtehude and Bach, bombs and beautiful organs, and a blend of blood-curdling artwork—just in time for Halloween. Join safarist Simon and our guest, the mad trapper Edward Ocampo-Gooding as they visit the churches and organs of Lubeck, Germany.

Episode 011 - Lubeck.mp3

Join Simon and Leah as they bike across Europe, seeking out big, bizarre and beautiful pipe organs and their human handlers.