Our history
Carlo Dell'Orto and Massimo Lanzini's organ-making business stems from the passion and the fascination that has emerged during periods devoted to the study and reflection of the work of the ancient masters, flanked by moments of creative inspiration.
In twenty years of experience, a basic criteria has guided them in their labours to restore or build new organs: each instrument is considered to be a unique piece, conceived, designed and crafted within a specific context, fulfilling the needs of the community to which it belongs.
The work involved in the field of restoration is multi-faceted: in-depth research is carried out at each stage in order to ensure that the completed instrument is in harmony with the style of the original organ builder.
To date the Studio has worked on around one hundred instruments and today employs eight people. The very first organ to be built (three manuals, forty stops) was for the Collegiate Church of Arona. The exclusive use of "spring chests" marked a return to the era in which mechanical organs were still constructed.
In 1987, an organ for the church of St. Alessandro in Milan was built, an exact replica of the instrument constructed in 1721 by G. Silbermann in Rotha (Leipzig). New instruments were subsequently built in Treviso (three manuals, thirty stops), and in the cathedral of Monza, where an organ was installed in the apse. The instrument built for the church of Arcore dates back to 1991: forty stops with all-mechanical action.
The new organ for the church of Riva Valdobbia (VC) was built in true traditional Italian style. This instrument has a "contr'ottava" (the octave below bottom C), and is built on a base that stretches 16 feet. Following the construction of a small instrument for the Benedictine Monastery on the island of S.Giulio (Orta Lake), in the autumn of 1999, work was completed on a large, all-mechanical action organ with three keyboards which was then shipped to Puchheim (Munich).
Work is currently underway to build an instrument with two manuals for the Parish Church of Zola Predosa and a new organ with three manuals for the great hall of the "N. Paganini" Conservatory in Genoa.
Amongst the numerous restorations of historic instruments, all of which have been carried out in collaboration with the appropriate authorities, we would like to mention the following:
The Tomaso Roccatagliata organ (1721) in Palazzo S.Giorgio in Genoa, currently the oldest-known organ in the Region of Liguria, The Bernasconi organ with two keyboards (1887) in the St. Gioachim Church in Milan, The Serassi organ in the cathedral of Tortona, restored to its original arrangement and action (two keyboards, sixty levers), The organ in Baceno (VB), work of the Swiss organ-makers Carlen and Walpen (1821), The C.G. Bianchi organ (1861) in Moncrivello (VC),
The organ in Airolo (Switzerland) with two manuals and forty stops, a reconstruction of a Vedani instrument from the end of the 19th century.
The instrument built by the Prestinari brothers from Magenta (1832) for the church in Arzo (Switzerland), The organ attributed to K.
Junghans (end of the 17th century) property of the Municipal Museum in Bolzano, The positive organ of the Neopolitan school and one from Tuscany, both of which belong to the Civic collection of historic instruments in the Sforzesco Castle in Milan.
The Maroni-Biroldi organ in Inarzo (VA) dated 1833, The organ built by the Ragozzi brothers for the Sanctuary of Saint Anna in Borgosesia, around 1775, The Serassi organs in Genoa St. Filippo (1815), Borzonasca (GE, 1819) and Cavaglio (NO) dated 1838, The A. Mentasti organ in the cathedral of Novara (1902) that has three keyboards and mechanical action with a Barker lever, The organs with pneumatic action in Montebello (PV) built by the British organ-maker G.W.Trice in 1889, for the cathedral of Fano (Mascioni 1905) and the church of St. Stefano in Pallanza (Carlo Vegezzi Bossi 1903), The nineteenth century organs built by the Varese-born Bernasconi brothers in Laveno Mombello, Bodio Lomnago and Nebbiuno, The Serassi-Lingiardi organ located in the cathedral of Vigevano (1782-1848), The organ built by the Lodi-born Chiesa brothers in Triginto (MI) in 1796, The organ of the Tuscan school dated end of 17th century, located in the Medici villa in Briosco (CO), The F. Gatti organ (1761) in Cesena, in the church of the Suffragio, The organ in the oratory of St. Rocco in Carmagnola, work of Giacomo Filippo Landesio around the middle of the XVIII century.
Currently, work is underway on instruments in Lugo di Romagna (Rasori brothers, mid 19th century), Cannobio, organ built by the Milan-born Binago in 1714, Vercelli (Liborio Grisanti 1755), the seventeenth century positive organ kept in the Chapel of the St. Sepolcro at the Sacro Monte di Varallo Sesia and the Baldassarre Malamini organ dated 1601 in the Church of St. Domenico in Cesena