About

It is without doubt that the restoration of the Bamboo Organ (1973-75) generated a revival of interest for the pipe-organs in the country. The yearly organized International Bamboo Organ Festival was an opportunity to establish contacts with organists and organizations who wanted to support the training of Filipino organists as well as organbuilders in order to secure the future of the Bamboo Organ.

With the help of Dr. Johann Trummer, then head of the Institute for Church Music at the University of Graz (Austria) , some young Filipino students from Las Piñas, mostly selected from among the members of the Las Piñas Boys Choir (under the direction of Fr. Leo Renier, CICM), were provided with a scholarship to take up a course in church music and organbuilding....

The Organbuilders

Cealwyn Tagle

Johnny Puhyah

Manuel Tagle

Kenneth Hernandez

Apprentices

Beltran Sanchez, Jr.

Marcel Prudente

Dexter Santos

Kevin Tagle

Staff

Ferdinand Marino

Advisers/Consultants

Prof. Dr. Johann Trummer

Prof. Armando Salarza

Klaus Damm

Diego Cera Organ-builders was founded in 1994 based on training and experience derived from years of study from Master Organ Craftsmen in Europe.

Since its founding, the company has built over 20 custom-made pipe organs for local and international clients, latest of which is the organ in Music Academy in Minsk, Belarus. They also have restored more than a dozen instruments to date.

In this part of the world, the company can still afford to spend a lot of time working the details in an instrument. The precision work a Tracker Pipe Organ needs is very labor intensive as well as a richly ornamented case full of wood carvings.

History

The company started in 1994 as a partnership between Europe-trained pipe organ builders Cealwyn S. Tagle and Edgar M. Montiano (1969-2002) after their apprenticeship and training under the Master Organ builders of Helmut Allgauer Orgelbau in Grunbach am Schneeberg, Austria. and of Klais Orgelbau in Bonn, Germany.

Training under the intense supervision of Europe’s pipe organ masters, founders Tagle and Montiano mastered every aspect of the unique craft of organ building, particuularly in the areas of design, woodworkk, pipe making, voicing, tuning and proper restoration, among others. To further extend their knowledge, they have also participated in several workshops in organ building organized by the International Society of Organbuilders (ISO) and the European Center for Conservation, Restoration and Renovation (ECCRR) in Alden Biesen, Belgium.