Now it is official: Following a parliamentary group initiative of the CSU, € 780,000 will be budgeted for the completion of the concert organ in the Great Hall of the HfM Würzburg. The Budget Committee of the Bavarian State Parliament approved the corresponding motion on the provision of funds in the 2022 budget year at its meeting at the end of February. These funds will enable the completion of the organ to begin in the second quarter of 2022. The expansion will equip the organ as a so-called "hyper organ," of which there are only five instruments in the world.

The concert organ, built by Bonn-based organ builder Klais, has been in operation since 2016. The extremely elaborate concept, designed in accordance with the tasks of a conservatory, originally envisaged that the repertoire of the entire history of organ composition could be interpreted on this instrument, from its beginnings in the late Middle Ages through Johann Sebastian Bach and the late Romantic period to contemporary works. However, due to higher than expected rebuilding costs, this concept could not be fully realized at that time; among other things, necessary components for the music of the late Romantic and early Modern periods (such as works by the "Bavarian" composer Max Reger, who is famous primarily for his organ music) are missing. The previously silent fourth manual thus receives its "voice" in the form of the disposition (pipes and stops) already planned about ten years ago.

Furthermore, the updated conception provides for digital components with which the Würzburg hall organ will be equipped as a so-called "Hyper Organ", of which there are only five instruments in the world so far. This high-tech equipment will make it possible to realize special forms of performance, such as simultaneous playing of the instrument by several players (including experimental - also digitally based - improvisations, compositions and teaching forms), playing via the Internet from another location, or conducting interpretive and creative research, as already concretely planned for a joint research project of the HfM Würzburg with the HAW Würzburg-Schweinfurt and linked to an HTA professorship (Hightech Agenda Bayern).

The completion of this concept, which was largely developed by the head of the Department of Organ and Church Music, Prof. Dr. Christoph Bossert, can now be implemented thanks to financial resources provided by the government factions of the CSU and Free Voters on the initiative of the CSU parliamentary group in the state parliament.

After preliminary talks between the university president Prof. Dr. Christoph Wünsch and the chairman of the science committee in the Bavarian state parliament Robert Brannekämper, a visit of the two state parliament members Brannekämper and Prof. Bausback to the HfM Würzburg took place, supported by members of parliament on site, mainly MdL Manfred Ländner, during which Prof. Wünsch presented the updated concept for the hall organ and Prof. Bossert gave an impressive demonstration on the instrument.