Modular Pipe Organ Arrives at Santuari de Meritxell for 50th Anniversary Festival

The Santuari de Meritxell is set to host a modular pipe organ as a pilot project during its 50th anniversary celebrations, highlighting the potential for a permanent installation amid the 27th International ORGUE&nd Festival.

Organisers from Amics dels Orgues have secured the Wanderer, a mobile instrument built a decade ago by Michelotto e Tamburini and now owned by Italian organist Paolo Oreni. Comprising 12 separate modules with 851 pipes, 42 registers, three manuals and a pedalboard, it arrives as a genuine concert organ rather than a digital sampler. Organ builder Albert Blancafort from Collbató will assemble it at the sanctuary starting tomorrow, with completion by Thursday ahead of its debut on Sunday. The Comú de Canillo is funding transport, while Oreni provides the organ free of charge. It will remain until 20 September, supporting two concerts at Meritxell on 6 and 20 September at 7pm each, plus Sunday masses on 6, 12 and 20 September—followed by 30-minute post-mass performances on the first two by festival artistic director Ignacio Ribas, and the last by Oreni.

A third concert shifts to Església de Sant Esteve in Andorra la Vella on 12 September at 9:30pm due to the feast of Meritxell, Andorra's patron saint, featuring all five national choirs alongside Vicent Dubois, Notre-Dame de Paris's principal organist since 2016, and his wife Marie-Andrée Joerger on accordion. Their programme highlights French elegance through works by Poulenc, Debussy, Fauré and Piazzolla.

Ribas views the initiative as more than music, calling the organ a catalyst for cultural life beyond liturgy. It will include educational visits for pupils from Canillo's Andorran and French schools. Minor Consol Marc Casal has pledged the Comú de Canillo's financial support, while Culture Ministry heritage director Joan-Marc Joval stressed the need for community buy-in given the significant costs, promising a "multiplier effect" on local activities. Amics dels Orgues has long advocated for a proper organ at the basilica, designed by Ricard Bofill, following a modest harmonium installed in 2023.

The 6 September concert, Virgo, features the world premiere of Ribas's hour-long El jardí flotant, performed with Amores Percussion Group—Pau Ballester, Àngel García and Jesús Salvador. The 24-movement piece, incorporating video art, portrays Earth as a floating garden through birdsong, dances, rituals, horizons, meditation and joy. The 20 September finale, Canis Major, sees Oreni perform Liszt's Prelude and Fugue on BACH before improvising a live score for Buster Keaton's 1924 silent film Sherlock Jr.

The project tests acoustics in the sanctuary's unique space, fuelling early talks of a fixed organ without committed plans.