A leading organist is set to perform in the Villa Marina Arcade this evening (27 June).
Phil Kelsall MBE will be playing the Wurlitzer organ there from 7:30pm.
Tickets are £12 and are available at the VillaGaiety Box Office, on their website, and at the Welcome Centre in the Sea Terminal.
Phil has been the principal organist at the Blackpool Tower Ballroom for nearly 50 years.
Chairman of the Friends of the Isle of Man Wurlitzer group, Keith Simpson says the Island is very lucky to have him as a guest.
Hi there, I'm Siobhan Fletcher, one of the journalists up at Mac's radio, and welcome to the latest edition of our newscast. Music fans from across the island will get a chance to hear the principal organist from the Blackpool Tower Ballroom perform at a special concert in Douglas this evening. Phil Kelsor will be playing the World It's Organ in the Villa Marina Arcade from 7.30pm. The instrument was originally destined for a cinema in London, however on arrival in the UK from the USA, it was thought that it was too small. It was later acquired by the Isle of Man government in 1989 and had a long career at Summerland until its closure in 2004. Ahead of tonight's concert, I caught up with the chairman of the Friends of the Isle of Man well at the group, Keith Simpson, to find out more about the instrument and what's in store for giggoers this evening. The organ itself is situated in the arcade, which is next door for those visitors that may not know where the Villa arcade is. It's next door to the Villegati. It's the glass building. The organ in there is actually much older than the building. It's built in 1925 so it's actually getting quite close to 100 years old now. I'm sure we'll have some big celebrations when that rolls around. If anyone is listening who maybe doesn't know what a world it is, can you explain the instrument, how it may be differs from anything else? Oh yeah, I imagine most listeners have probably heard a church organ in churches on TV. The relative organ has certainly got all those sounds that you'd expect on a church organ, but it has much more as well, has plenty of tricks up its sleeve. As well as being able to play the normal sort of organ music that he might hear in a church, it was actually designed for theatres and silent movies, so we'd have whistles and bells, tambourines, drums, chimes, a whole arsenal of all kinds of percussive instruments. Well, you make it sound like you need about eight arms to play it, but for anyone who wants to come and see how it is played, can you tell me a little bit about this upcoming concert and the gentleman who's coming over? Yes, certainly the gentleman that's coming over is Phil Keltzel, MBE. He's the organist of Black Pearl Tower. I think any listeners of a certain age, like myself, would probably remember his predecessor Reginald Dixon, who is the famous organist of Black Pearl Tower, and they'd probably be surprised to learn that Phil Keltzel has actually been the organist of Black Pearl Tower now for 50 years. Well, okay, and then he's coming over then to give us a taste of that expertise then here on the Isle of Man. Yes, we're very lucky to have Phil. I'd rate him as probably one of the leading theatre organists of the world. He does tour the world, he's been to America, Australia, New Zealand, and all kinds of places where he's very, very well known. He's probably certainly one of the best theatre organists out there, and we're very lucky to have him in the Isle of Man. He'll probably want to see him then play this instrument. He's coming over to the island for a special concert, isn't he? Can you tell me more about it? Yeah, he's coming along tonight at 7.30. He's going to be doing the concert. The tickets are £12. They're available from the villa ticket office. The ticket office, by the way, again, for visitors who may not know this, is part of the entrance of the big hall of the villa. So as you've passed the villa gardens coming from this end of town, you'll find the last building is the villa hall, and then the ticket is available there, or, of course, the can always go to the welcome centre, which is at the seat terminal. And they'll be on VillaGati.com as well. And what kind of, if anyone's listening and maybe this has piqued their interest a little bit, why should they come out this evening? Well, I think they'll have an opportunity to hear one of the very, very best theatre organists in the world play. I play the organ myself, and I myself will be doing a concert this summer, too. But I think we all agree that nobody plays quite like Phil Kelsell. Perfect. Is there anything else you want to add? So we're delighted that Phil Kelsell will be starting off our season of Real Theatre Concerts this year. Next week we're going to have Peter Litman, the organist of the Cathedral Appeal, playing for the first of the Wednesday series of three concerts. Now, these are just one hour concerts that starts up one o'clock each Wednesday throughout July and August. Peter Litman will do the first one. And then there are a number of organists, including myself, who'll be playing. And we're organists from the Isle of Mount and from the UK as well. Thank you again to Keith Simpson there. And you can find a link to tickets and more information about the group's series of summer concerts at our website. Thank you for making it to the end of the Manks Radio newscast. You are obviously someone with exquisite taste. May I politely suggest you might want to subscribe to this and a wide range of Manks Radio podcasts at your favourite podcast provider, so our best bits will magically appear on your smartphone. Thank you. [Music] [BLANK_AUDIO]
