The organ builder and his team

A word from the designer

The Church of Our Lady of the Assumption in Charbonnières-les-Bains, renovated in 1999 during the construction of the organ in the workshop, offered it a new, privileged location, integrated into the neo-Gothic architecture of the north transept. Such a position in the immediate vicinity of the congregation allows the instrument to blend its music with the community singing and to create that indescribable bond between performer and audience during concerts.

Its sounds, polished and fine-tuned on site during the harmonization, inhabit with balance the new resonance of the building, in a musical aesthetic that allows each stop to express itself with personality and poetry. Each of these stops can mix its own color with those of the others to form ensembles that develop with fullness, in a clarity and readability totally adapted to the acoustic space.

Protecting the approximately 1,530 pipes, the acoustic enclosure, formed by the "buffet", whose design and decorations are inspired by the place, also encompasses all the fine mechanical transmissions, of the "suspended" type for the keyboards, which gives a touch particularly favorable to the interpretation phrases.

Destined to live for many generations, the organ was built in our workshop between 1998 and 1999, installed in Charbonnières in March 2000 and voiced (fine sound adjustments) in the spring of the same year. The whole required 6500 hours of work, divided between the different trades of the Organ Builder: design, carpentry and cabinetmaking, mechanisms, pipework, ironwork, skin work, assembly, sculpture, decoration, on-site assembly, sound voice and tuning.

May the community of Charbonnières and the West of Lyon take ownership of this living heritage, close to its listeners, which will serve not only praise and prayer but also musical emotion for all.

Bernard HURVY,
Organ builder

Excerpts from references

Harmonizations only, before the creation of the company in 1991:

Sacred Heart of Montmartre in Paris (1985), Cathedral of St-Brieuc (1988).

Restorations (including Historic Monuments):

Blois Cathedral (Cliquot-Merklin), Orléans Cathedral (Cavaillé-Coll, grand gallery organ and choir organ), Saint-Flour Cathedral (Abbey), Moutiers-en-Tarentaise Cathedral (Cavaillé-Coll), St-Louis-des-Français in Lisbon (Cavaillé-Coll), Habay-la-Neuve, Belgium (Walker, late 19th century), Epernay Notre-Dame (Cavaillé-Coll), Bordeaux St-Michel (Merklin, restoration in collaboration with the Robert-Frères Manufactory), Ergué-Gaberic, near Quimper (Dallam, 1680)...

Constructions:

Mother House of the Brothers of Ploërmel (1995), Achel Abbey (Belgium-1998), Holling (1999), Auvers-sur-Oise (2006), Notre-Dame-du-Folgoët Basilica (2009), Neuville-sur-Saône (2019, in collaboration with Thierry Lemercier)...

Harmonizations and other works:

Val-de-Grâce in Paris (sound restoration 1992, Cavaillé-Coll), Paris Church of the Holy Trinity (sound restoration 1995, organ by O. Messiaen), Strasbourg Temple neuf (Merklin, enhancement work in collaboration with Q. Blumenroeder), Brussels main hall of the Palais des Beaux-Arts (residence of the National Orchestra of Belgium, technical and sound finishing of the instrument).