RCCO Vancouver Centre

RCCO Vancouver Centre The Royal Canadian College of Organists supports organists, church musicians, and choral conductors in Greater Vancouver and the Lower Mainland.

Inspiring connections with organ music: we promote a vibrant community that engages all people in the transformative power of the organ and its music. We support, promote, and celebrate, Canada’s organ music community by providing professional development opportunities, youth training programmes, promotion of emerging artists, examinations leading to certification, publication of Canadian organ an

d choral music, scholarships and bursaries, and several honorary awards. We also provide essential services such as educational resources, communications, and support for church organists and choir directors. We seek to enrich the lives of Canadians by engaging the wider public in Canada’s rich organ heritage and vibrant organ culture.

If you enjoyed learning about the Casavant Opus 397 (St Giles) and 501 (Central Pres) transplants to the Abbey and Maran...
05/17/2026

If you enjoyed learning about the Casavant Opus 397 (St Giles) and 501 (Central Pres) transplants to the Abbey and Maranatha- be sure not to miss all the orchestral colours of BC’s largest organ at St Andrew’s-Wesley with our RCCO Regional Director Angelique Po performing with pianist Dr Corey Hamm: Prokofiev (3) and Barber Piano Concerto’s!!

The 1933 merger of downtown’s St Andrew’s Presbyterian and Wesley Methodist transplanted StA’s 1910 Opus 390 and expanded it by 14 ranks making it opus 1475. A complicated history ensued - but the Huestis’ performed a first class rebuild in 1997, and then during the 2020 StAW revitalization Casavant provided new console, antiphonal, and Great 12 note trumpet 16 extension totalling 4185 pipes across 73 ranks!

The ‘office’ for the latter afternoon-Civic Organist Michael Dirk spent the better part ‘Mickey-Mousing’ around preparin...
05/15/2026

The ‘office’ for the latter afternoon-
Civic Organist Michael Dirk spent the better part ‘Mickey-Mousing’ around preparing for this Saturday’s FREE VSO Day of Music Cartoon features at 2pm: Pink Panther (with guest Abe Ross); Mutt & Jeff (1926); and Mickey’s Polo Team (1936) www.dayofmusic.ca

Our 3rd/final organ spotlight for this Sat: Maranatha Canadian Reformed- Surrey 4-5:30pmLike our 1st stop, the core of t...
04/24/2026

Our 3rd/final organ spotlight for this Sat: Maranatha Canadian Reformed- Surrey 4-5:30pm

Like our 1st stop, the core of this instrument was crafted by Casavant (opus 501) in 1913 for Central Presbyterian downtown Vancouver.

Maranatha was instituted 1950, and in the mid 70s acquired opus 501 when Central Pres was redeveloping its building, and it was combined with the 1961-67 Stanley Haddon organ from the Canadian Reformed Church of New Westminster, BC. A new Casavant console was added and the organ was rebuilt with tonal changes to better suite the reformed tradition.

04/24/2026
2nd organ spotlight for Sat crawl:Good Shepherd Church (1-2:30pm)31 stops, 38 ranks, 1933 pipes & chimesThe parish began...
04/22/2026

2nd organ spotlight for Sat crawl:
Good Shepherd Church (1-2:30pm)
31 stops, 38 ranks, 1933 pipes & chimes

The parish began in White Rock 1924 with a log cabin that could seat 20 people. 1940 a new church was built next to it that could hold 150, and expanded to 275 capacity 1948.

The Star of the Sea Elementary School was built on the present site 1985, and the new church 1994 where the new magnum Koppejan opus 20 was commissioned/donated by the Werner and Hoing family.

Over the course of 12 months, Opus 20 was crafted in Adrian Koppejan’s shop in Chilliwack which he founded in 1979 after immigrating to Canada 1974 from Holland where he studied organ building with his father and in Germany.

The all-new pipework and keyboards were sourced from Stinkens & Laukhuff Germany, while the winding mechanisms, console, solid oak cabinets, and casework were manufactured in the shop with assistance from Frithjov Pertscheleit and Mals Strahl (who was our Centre President’s high school shop teacher!) Local technician David Quinton assisted with installation and continues to care for the instrument.

1st organ spotlight for Sat crawl:Westminster Abbey (Mission) 10-11:30amCasavant opus 397 (1910) was commissioned for Mo...
04/21/2026

1st organ spotlight for Sat crawl:
Westminster Abbey (Mission) 10-11:30am

Casavant opus 397 (1910) was commissioned for Mount Pleasant Presbyterian (10th/Quebec) at a cost of $5090 for the 26 stop/rank 3-manual organ. It became St. Giles United in 1925, until they merged into Oakridge United (41st/Elizabeth).

Opus 397 continued to serve what became Vancouver Evangelistic Tabernacle until 1990, when it was acquired by Westminster Abbey.

It was merged with parts of their 1960 Casavant opus 2572- namely stops to the Gt: Pr4, Fl4, mixIII-IV, Sesq II, plus extended trumpet to 16 for the pedal; 3 stops to Sw: Pr4, Fl4,and extended the oboe to 16; and flushed the 16’ pedal gemshorn for choir manual 16/8 plus another fl 8; and Pr8 to pedal- all under the direction of Fr Basil Foot and Brother Peter.

It is the most acoustically rich environment of any organ in BC and an absolute thrill to play!

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Vancouver, BC

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