Welcome!
You have found (possibly by accident) the home page of Paul Derrett, UK-based organist and organ builder.
Opened in April 2013, this website replaces one built up over several years at piczo.com which ceased to work. It will take me some time to compile this new site, please bear with me. Like many born before the internet age, I find that manipulating this sort of technology scrambles the brain and saps the will to live!
15th March 2015 New Page added - 'My House Organ' 5th July 2015 New Page added - 'Organs for other people'
23rd April 2016 Five new videos just posted on youtube
December 2020 New page added describing recent work on my concert organ - [finally got around to it!]
TLDR - a short video demonstrating my house organ is here:
25th October 2022 New page added - my In-House House Organ
20th December 2022 Four rough-and-ready little videos added on the In-House House Organ page (for demonstration purposes)
25th September 2023 Please note my e-mail contact address has changed again, it is now pdbenchmarks@gmail.com
25th Setember 2023 Updates to various pages, most particularly a new CD is now available - Benchmarks volume 16: Harrogate ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
A complete pipe organ addict from a very early age, Paul started both official organ lessons and ‘helping out’ (which largely consisted of making tea, boiling glue and sweeping up) at a local firm of organ builders at 12. He studied at the Royal College of Music in London with Nicholas Danby, Richard Popplewell and Herbert Howells. For some years he has been giving around twenty recitals each year in (mostly) prestigious venues; recitals in 2016 included nine UK cathedrals and his fourth recital tour in Germany. He has recorded more than forty solo CDs, several of which have received five star reviews. Recitals have been given in France, Germany and Holland in recent years and in both 2013 and 2015 he was the most-often-requested performer of the year on the internet radio station organlive.com which is based in the U.S.A. Much to his surprise, this accolade was repeated again in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021. He is extremely happy to know that people he will never meet have enjoyed enjoyed his work.
As a hobby he rescues unwanted instruments and has repaired and re-installed several of these over the years.
Als regelrechter Orgel-Fanatiker begann Paul Derrett im Alter von 12 Jahren, gleichzeitig Orgelunterricht zu nehmen und in einer Orgelbauwerkstatt seiner Heimatstadt mitzuarbeiten. Später studierte er am Royal College of Music in London bei Nicholas Danby, Richard Popplewell und Herbert Howells, deren eigene Kompositionen er auch aufführt. Nebenbei absolvierte er eine Ausbildung zum Orgelbauer. Er ist Preisträger des Royal College of Organists und hat seit 1981 mehr als 600 Konzerte gegeben. — Inzwischen verwirklicht Paul Derrett seinen Kindheitstraum: er unterhält eine eigene Orgelbauwerkstatt, in der er insbesondere wertvolle historische Instrumente restauriert, und spielt daneben pro Jahr rund 20 Konzerte, viele davon an bedeutenden Stätten Europas. In Deutschland hat er bereits in den Domen und Hauptkirchen von Magdeburg, Halberstadt, Halle, Erfurt und Meißen konzertiert. Seine besondere Vorliebe gilt vergessenen oder selten gespielten Werken der Orgelliteratur, wobei sein immenses Repertoire auch viele Werke für andere Instrumente in Transkription für Orgel umfasst. Mehr als 30 Solo-CDs hat er eingespielt, viele von ihnen mit Fünf-Sterne-Kritiken. 2013, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2020 und 2021 war Paul Derrett der meistgefragte Künstler bei der Internet-Radiostation organlive.com aus den USA.
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