ORIGINAL POST JULY 2025 – LAST UPDATED: 11 December 2025
| —————————————–FUN FACT:——————————————– One of the most famous organ builders was Wilhelm Sauer and some of the most famous organs in Germany are Sauer organs, for example the large one in Berlin Cathedral, as well as – incidentally, the considerably smaller one in St Michael’s church at Engelbecken. The company still exists. Meanwhile, there is a famous German organist called Thomas Sauer – no relation at all – complete coincidence – what’re the odds? |
I have always liked organ music, although in small doses mostly due to the fact that I have ever only had occasion to listen to it in churches – not my favourite environment, and the seats are usually torture :-).
Nonetheless, I am happy to see the pipe organ coming into the limelight also in other settings than church services.
However, until very recently, my interest in and knowledge about pipe organs has been limited. Then, earlier this summer (2025), I went on a daytrip with Brandenburgischen Sommerkonzerte to four organs in four churches – two in Poland and two in Germany – find the post about that trip here.
I realised how much there is to learn about organs and how the real organ “nerds” know who built each one and how many pipes, registers, manuals etc. each of them has. There is a whole world there that I don’t know much about. This is my attempt to start exploring.
One of the concerts I attended on that first organ journey with Brandenburgische Sommerkonzerte was with Julian Emanuel Becker, reportedly a once-per-century Wunderkind (or perhaps that title goes to Frederik Magle :-), and before them – Martin Sturm must have been right up there among the child prodigies. Other talents I am now coming across are Felix Hell, Arno Schneider, Mari Fukumoto, whom I am definitely following from now on, Chris Jarrett, and Anna Lapwood. The latter is probably a bit too flamboyant for my taste, but they all, and many more I just have not come across yet, contribute to this renaissance, and to the fact that increasingly, new music for pipe organ is being commissioned and composed.
Below are some useful links, followed by my plans to attend concerts in the near future, and further down links to information on specific venues in Berlin and Brandenburg and beyond, interspersed with occasional reports and photos from the concerts I actually attended.
Useful websites listing concerts and other organ-related events
Gottfried-Silbermann-Gesellschaft
Tipp Berlin under Tagestipps (the organ events are usually right at the end of each day)
Kulturfeste im Land Brandenburg
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My personal plans for attending concerts, some firm, some more tentative, in the immediate future (mostly for myself, but also in case anyone sees this and would like to join in).
Occasional reports and photos from concerts actually attended can be found further down in this post, marked by *****).
26 November St Thomas Mariannenplatz
Fr, 28.11.2025 12-12:30 Uhr: Brandenburg an der Havel: St. Katharinenkirche
14 December Berliner Dom (Ticket bought)
2026
7 January 2026 14.00 hrs Espressokonzert, Konzerthaus, NOTE: with once-per-century Wunderkind Julian Emanuel Becker!
14 to 16 May: Inauguration of the organ in St. Marien Kirche in Prenzlau
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Recurring and regular organ concerts in and around Berlin:
Weekly concerts in Französische Friedrichstadtkirche, Gendarmenmarkt:
Thirty minutes every Monday at 16.00 hrs (Eule organ)
*****28 July 16.00: This was very interesting. Not only because I had not realised that this church was used for anything other than the Huguenot Museum, but because we got to actually see and hear the voice of the organist.
Katharina Larissa Paech, Graz, had obviously put a lot of thought into the programme, and came downstairs and told us a bit about the music and the composers which were three lesser-known composers (and as someone who is often sick and tired of the usual, standard repertoire of the ten to fifteen best-known composers in the world in all the concert venues, I greatly appreciate all such initiatives): Guillaume Lasceux, Bernardo Pasquini, and Alexandre-Pierre-Francois Boely.
I enjoyed the latter most. Very enjoyable concert.
*****23 November Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche, Zossener Straße, Kreuzberg
On the Hook organ from 1870, Karolina Juodelyte played music by Liana Alexandra, J.S. Bach, Ciurlionis, and Fletcher. Bonus info: There is a nice café in the church!
Internationaler Orgelsommer in St. Michael
The church at Engelbecken – a Sauer organ.
*****25 July: Jakub Savicky played works by Debussy and own works.
*****29 August 17.00 St Michael, Engelbecken, Parvis Hejazi (Werke von Charles Tournemire und Improvisationen)
*****26 September 17.00 St Michael, Engelbecken. The organ was being renovated, so the concert consisted of somebody singing something (I did not stay for that) – they just “forgot” to mention that on their website.
*****31 October 17.00 St Michael, Engelbecken. Karolina Juodelyte played works by Bach, Ciurlionis, Mendelssohn and Fletcher.
Every Friday at 17.00 hrs in Museum Nikolaikirche (Jehmlich)
Warning: The people who run this place are very unprofessional. There is not always a programme for the concert, or not enough. And they don’t tell you that before you have bought a ticket. A kind of dishonesty, really.
*****15 August 17.00: Rainer Rafalsky played works by Bach, Baumgarten, Mendelssohn, Sancho, and himself.
*****22 August 17.00: No programme so I left before the concert started.
Musikinstrumentenmuseum. (“Mighty-Wurlitzer-Theaterorgel”). Every Saturday 12.00 presentation and concert.
*****6 September, 12.00, been there, done that.
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Noon, afternoon, and other organ concerts in St. Hedwig Cathedral (Will try to attend many from now on): Klais Organ
Regular concerts: Orgelmusik an Sankt Hedwig – Eintritt frei
15 Minuten Orgelmusik
Jeden Dienstag, Donnerstag & Samstag um 12 Uhr (außer an Feiertagen und am 01., 15., & 17. April)
30 Minuten Orgelmusik
Jeden Freitag um 16 Uhr (außer an Feiertagen)
*****22 August 16.00 Florian Wilkes played works by César Franck.
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International Organ Summer in Berlin Cathedral
The Sauer organ in Berlin Cathedral
*****25 July 2025: Martin Sturm played a fantastic concert on the large Sauer organ, entitled Musikalisches Inferno, and it was indeed a tour de force with Sturm und Drang. As the afterthought, he played the most beautiful rendition of Brahms’ Lullaby I have ever heard, not drippingly sentimental as it is often done, but not a dry eye in the auditorium.
A great thing about the event was the “public viewing” screen making it possible for the audience to see the organist in action. Superb. What a concert. What a talent.
*****15 August 2025: Roger Sayer played an interesting programme of works by Bach, Bossi, Bridge, Franck, Mendelssohn and Tournemire, again with “public viewing” screen – great idea which I wish more churches would take up.
*****22 August 2025: With Angela Metzger. A concert I had been really looking forward to but they had put amateurs in charge of organising the queues, so that those who had not bought tickets in advance got in first. At one poing, everything was chaos with people being shown first to one door, then to the other, and running towards each other. It became clear that they had sold more tickets than they had seats for, and the resulting shoving and pushing got the better of my patience so I gave my ticket to a random stranger and went home. Letting people without prior tickets in first when there is already not enough seats is absurd and unprofessional and unfair treatment of those of us who had bought tickets long in advance. When the Germans screw something up, they REALLY screw it up.
Charlottenburg
Luisenkirche (Lunchtime concerts every Thursday)
Other, regular or irregular, concerts in Berlin:
*****2 August Sankt Lukaskirche Kreuzberg – Gerd Rosinsky played works by Bach, Würzburger, Weinberger (one of my favourites), Fromm, Büsig (both new to me), Dupré, Langlais and Lewandowski.
Internationaler Orgelsommer Potsdam
*****3 August 18.00 Erlöserkirche, Schuke organ. Interesting concert, Ernst Wally played works by Bach (seems almost obligatory), Tittel, Messiaen, Mendelssohn, as well as his own Prelude for Ayr.
*****7 September: Nikolaikirche, Chris Jarrett – refreshingly contemporary.
More Potsdam:
*****16 November 17.00 Nikolaikirche Potsdam, Orgelmusik am Volkstrauertag (preceded by a visit to Das Minsk). Music by Lizt and Bach.
Organ concerts in Konzerthaus including concerts in the near future.
*****13 September 15.30: Orgelstunde Konzerthaus Berlin. Felix Hell played works bg Bach, Barber, Bovet, Liszt and Schneider. Great concert. Enjoyed the two contemporary ones the most (surprise, surprise :-)).
The large Jehmlich organ in Konzerthaus Berlin:
Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche, Zossener Straße, Kreuzberg
Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche – Wednesdays and Fridays 13.00: Concert and Tour of the Schuke Organ
*****16 August 2025 – fantastic concert – Mari Fukumoto presented an interesting programme, largely “contemporary” with works by de Arauxo, Bolcom, Heiller, Hindemith, Kagel and Radulescu.
The Schuke organ in Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche
Organ music in Berlin Philharmonic
Skt. Marienkirche (Alexanderplatz)
Weekly concerts Mondays 14.30.
The Wagner-Kern Organ in St. Marienkirche, Alexanderplatz, Berlin
Also Berliner Orgelsommer
*****28 July 19.00: Michael Schönheit played a reconstruction of the organ concert organised and played by Mendelssohn in Thomaskirche in Leipzig on the anniversary of the death of J.S. Bach. He also played a couple of his own works improvised in the style of Mendelssohn. A very pleasant 75′ concert.
*****8 August 19.00: Rom Anschütz played works by Bach, Böhm, Haydn, Krebs, Mozart and Witt, on the comparatively unimposing Schuke organ pictured below:
Spandau (E.g. every Saturday at 12.00)
Schöneberg – Apostel-Paulus-Kirche – e.g. every Thursday at noon
And beyond:
Dresden
Another comprehensive list of organ concerts in Dresden
Silbermann organ in Katholischer Hofkirche
Hamburg
Jüterbog
Events in Jüterbog:
***** Jüterbog Orgelnachtwanderung 19 September 2025
REALLY badly organised. I saw ONE organ and heard ONE concert. More in the general post on the visit to Jüterbog on 19 September. Here, the organ in Liebfrauenkirche 1737 Joachim Wagner; 1891 Gustav Albert Friedrich aus Wittenberg; 1938/1974 Alexander Schuke; 2017 Karl Schuke.
Leipzig
*****19 October: Gewandhaus Leipzig Orgelpräsentation 14.00, concert 16.00
The Schuke Organ in Gewandhaus Leipzig:
. Nikolaikirche Leipzig. Thomaskirche
Prenzlau (Unfortunately, the big organ in St. Marienkirche is still under repair and will be re-inaugurated some time in 2026).
Rostock: Musik in Sankt Marien
Schwerin:
Orgelsommer in St. Paulskirche
Stralsund:
Templin:
*****26 August 12.00 Orgelmatinee Maria-Magdalenen-Kirche Templin (combined with a daytrip to Templin which has been on my list for a long time – photos from Templin in a separate post). Helge Pfläging played works from the French Baroque – Chaumont, F. Couperin, L. Couperin, Lébegue, and Raison. Very enjoyable. I will go again if and when the RB trains become fully functional.
Wittenberg (a.o. weekly 30′ concerts)
Other information:
The organs in Berlin Cathedral
The organ in Berlin Philharmonic.
The ten largest organs in Germany:
Die größte Orgel Deutschlands ist die im Passauer Dom mit 17.974 Pfeifen und 233 Registern, sie gilt als die größte katholische Kirchenorgel der Welt und Europas.
Hier ist eine Liste von zehn der größten Orgeln in Deutschland, wobei die Größe in Bezug auf die Anzahl der Pfeifen und Register angegeben ist:
- Passauer Dom: 17.974 Pfeifen, 233 Register, largest catholic church organ in the world (!!My note: under restoration till 2030).
- Merseburger Dom: 5.687 Pfeifen, (romantische Orgel)
- Weitere große Orgeln: Es gibt viele weitere große Orgeln in Deutschland, aber die genauen Zahlen variieren je nach Quelle und Kriterien (z.B. reine Pfeifenanzahl, spielbare Register, etc.). Die genaue Reihenfolge der folgenden Orgeln kann daher variieren.
- Kölner Dom: Eine große Orgel, aber genaue Zahlen sind schwer zu finden
- Thomaskirche Leipzig: (siehe Bach-Orgel)
- Nikolaikirche Leipzig: (siehe Bach-Orgel)
- St. Michaelis (Michel) Hamburg: Eine große Orgel, aber genaue Zahlen sind schwer zu finden
- Ulmer Münster: Eine große Orgel, aber genaue Zahlen sind schwer zu finden
- Marienkirche Lübeck: Eine große Orgel, aber genaue Zahlen sind schwer zu finden
- Jakobikirche Hamburg: Eine große Orgel, aber genaue Zahlen sind schwer zu finden
Hinweis: Die genauen Zahlen und Reihenfolgen können je nach Quelle und Kriterien variieren. Die Orgeln in den großen Kathedralen und Kirchen sind oft Meisterwerke der Orgelbaukunst und haben eine lange Geschichte.