Location : London, Royal Festival Hall

Neil Hannon curates an evening at the Royal Festival Hall’s Pull Out All The Stops!, the celebrations of the full restoration and 60th anniversary of the venue’s organ.

Neil selects a few pieces performed by organist Tom Bell, Southbank Centre’s Voicelab (a choir of volunteers), and the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Rebecca Miller.

He is also interviewed and plays a solo rendition of ‘Dear Lord And Father Of Mankind’.

The second part consists of an especially written work Neil has done for the event, which received financial support from PRS for Music Foundation: ‘To Our Fathers In Distress’ which is a series of vivid musical scenes for organ and choir that evoke the constriction, the mystery and magic, the boredom, and the hard-won freedoms of a childhood Sunday.


Musicians for the BBC Concert Orchestra:
First Violin: Rebecca Turner, Peter Bussereau, Chereene Allen, Michael Howson, Lucy Hartley, Matthew Bain, Helen Cooper, Gavin Davies, Kirstin Klingels, Hazel Mulligan, Patrick Roberts, Robert Yeomans
Second Violin: Michael Gray, Matthew Elston, Marcus Broome, David Baeman, Daniel Mullin, Sarah Freestone, Ruston Pomeroy, Anna Ritchie, Anna Dryer-Beers, Sebastian Rudnicki
Viola: Timothy Welch, Stephen Shakeshaft, Mike Briggs, Helen Goatly, Sarah Malcolm, John Rogers, Alistair Scahill, Michael Schofield
Cello: Benjamin Hughes, Katharine O’Kane, Matthew Lee, Josephine Abbott, Ben Rogerson, Anna Beryl, David Lale, Tae-Mi Song
Double Bass: Dominic Worsley, Stacey-Ann Miller, Andrew Wood, Stephen Warner, Jeremy Watt, Laurence Ungless

Musicians for Southbank Centre’s Voicelab:
Soprano: Lucy Azzaro, Elizabeth Brogan, Sarah Burke, Ruth Cassidy, Anya Chaika, Jenny Edwards, Maya Freedman, Barbara Litynska, Katherine Maddock, Jane Morley, Gill O’Neill, Jane Rosenorn-Lanng, Sarah Sharp, Marysia Trembecka, Claire Warrior, Jenny Wegg, Emma Woolfenden, Francesca Zoppi
Alto: Jill Barrett, Fionnuala Barrett, Maggie Brown, Michaela Caunter, Joanna Chapman, Holly Hunter, Heather Knight, Julia Knight, Jan Loudon, Lya Lua, Liz Marriorr, Alex McColl, Eleanor Roberts, Eleanor Wright, Frances Yonge
Tenor: Steve Amos, Phil Birtles, Andrew Caddy, Lea Cornthwaite, Justin Eeles, Lee Hollands, Alexander Mayor, Andrew Smith, Chris Thow, Tony Wren
Bass: Andrew Bailey, Alan Caig Wilson, James Duckworth, Billy Fisher, Kanu Kaushal, Drew Law, Patrick Lyseight, Scott Milne, Seamus Montgomery, Irving Rappaport, Luke Reader

Broadcast live on BBC Radio 3, followed by a post-concert lounge with Tom Bell and Rebecca Miller.