Klais Orgelbau

Klais redirects here. For the Violet-headed Hummingbird, see Klais (bird).

Johannes Klais Orgelbau GmbH & Co. KG

Type	GmbH, Kommanditgesellschaft
Industry	Pipe organ design and building. Pipe organ restoration
Founded	1882
Headquarters	Kölnstraße 148 • D 53111 Bonn, Germany
Key people	Hans Gerd Klais, Philipp Klais
Products	Pipe organs
Number of employees	64 (2006)
Website	Orgelbau Klais

Johannes Klais - Orgelbau, Kölnstr. 148 in Bonn

Orgelbau Klais is a German firm that designs, builds and restores pipe organs. It is a family run company, founded in 1882 by Johannes Klais senior and is now run by his great-grandson Philipp Klais. The firm is based in Bonn, Germany, and has completed many large-scale building and restoration projects around the globe in more than a century of organ building.^[1]

History of the company

Johannes Klais studied organ building in Alsace, Switzerland and Southern Germany. He founded his own organ building workshop in Bonn in 1882. His way of building organs was closely bound up with traditional construction methods using slider windchests. But as early as before the turn of the century he built high pressure stops with two mouths on pneumatic cone valve chests. In 1906, together with his son Hans, he introduced electric action. Hans Klais took over in 1925. In his time facade design began to come under the influence of the modern age, ergonomic console designs were also being developed. Hans Gerd Klais, the founder's grandson, took charge in 1965. Philipp Klais, the great-grandson of the founder, studied organ building in Alsace, France; in Germany; and overseas. He now runs the company.

Klais instruments around the world

Here is a short list naming a few of the Klais instruments around the world:

• The Athens Concert Hall, in Athens, Greece with 6080 pipes ^[2]
• The cathedral in Aachen, Germany.^[3]
• The cathedral in Cologne, Germany: der Kölner Dom. The main instrument was finished in 1998 and although enormous, it is almost dwarfed inside the colossal gothic church as it clings to the balconies. Klais also restored other organs in the cathedral and added a detached console that operates all of them at once.
• St. Peter's church in Munich, Germany
• The Cathedral in Trier, Germany, 5602 pipes
• The Concert Hall of the Kraków Philharmonic, in Kraków, Poland
• The Concert Hall of the Queensland Performing Arts Centre, in Brisbane, Australia, 6566 pipes^[4]
• The Abbey in Bath, UK.^[5]
• St. John's, Smith Square, Westminster, UK, a redundant but still consecrated church which commissioned its organ when the building became a concert hall.
• Symphony Hall, Birmingham, UK. Finished in 2001, the 6000 pipes symphony organ is now the largest mechanical action organ in the UK.^[6]
• Hallgrímskirkja in Reykjavík, Iceland, 5275 pipes.
• Overture Hall in Madison, Wisconsin, USA.^[7]
• Esplanade Concert Hall in Singapore.
• Petronas Philharmonic Concert Hall in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
• National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, China. Finished in 2007, the 6500 pipes symphony organ with 94 stops is now the largest organ in China.^[8]
• St. Peter's Lutheran Church in New York, USA. 1978, 2 manuals, 43 ranks.^[9]

• 

  The choir Organ in the cathedral in Cologne, Germany

• 

  The main Organ in the Cathedral of Trier,
  built in 1974

• 

  The organ in the Kraków Philharmonic, Kraków, Poland

• 

  The organ at Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavik, Iceland

References

1. Hermann Simon mentioned this company in his correspondent Book as an example of a "Hidden Champion" (Simon, Hermann: Hidden Champions of the 21st Century : Success Strategies of unknown World Market Leaders. London: Springer, 2009.- ISBN 978-0-387-98147-5.)
2. "Orgelbau Klais Bonn::" (in German). Orgelbau Klais. Retrieved 2011-01-11.
3. "Die Klais-Orgel" (in German). Aachen Cathedral. Retrieved 2008-07-19.
4. "QPAC Concert Hall". www.ohta.org.au. Retrieved 2009-11-13.
5. "Klais Organ". Bath Abbey. Retrieved 2011-09-25.
6. "The Symphony Organ". Symphony Hall, Birmingham. Retrieved 2008-07-19.
7. "The Overture Concert Organ". Madison Symphony Orchestra. Retrieved 2008-07-19.
8. "Concert Hall". National Centre for the Performing Arts. Retrieved 2008-07-19.
9. "St. Peter's Lutheran organ". NYC AGO. Retrieved 2010-12-11.

Sources

• Hans Gerd Klais: Beiträge zur Geschichte und Ästhetik der Orgel: Aus Anlass der Einhundertjahrfeier Orgelbau Johannes Klais Bonn, 1882–1982. Bonn 1983.
• Architecture of Music. Inspired pipe organs in world class buildings. Johannes Klais Orgelbau (Ed.), Bonn w.J.
• Horst Hodick: Johannes Klais (1852–1925); ein rheinischer Orgelbauer und sein Schaffen. Musikverlag Katzbichler, München/Salzburg 1993, ISBN 3-87397-139-9.
• Ludger Stühlmeyer: Orgelbau in Hof. In: Musica sacra, 133. Jg. Journal 2, Kassel 2013, S. 104–105.

External links

The official website of Orgelbau Klais

Coordinates: 50°44′34″N 7°05′34″E / 50.742865°N 7.092671°E