Reformed Church L’Auditoire

About

The Calvin Auditorium or Calvin Auditory (French: Auditoire de Calvin), originally the Notre-Dame-la-Neuve Chapel, is a chapel in Geneva, Switzerland, which played a significant role in the Protestant Reformation. It is associated with John Calvin, Theodore Beza and John Knox. The auditorium lies directly adjacent to St. Pierre Cathedral in the Place de la Taconnerie. The austere Gothic-style building was constructed in the 15th century, on the site of earlier 5th-century religious buildings, and was originally dedicated to Notre-Dame-la-Neuve.

From 1536, the time of Geneva's Reformation, it became a lecture hall where Calvin actively expounded his reformed theology: Bible studies were conducted here at 7:00 each morning. In 1559, it served as the original home of the University of Geneva. Once Geneva accepted the Reformation, it became a haven for Protestant refugees from all over Europe, and Calvin gave this building over for them to worship in their own language. It was also used by the Scottish reformer John Knox, during his exile in Geneva in the 1550s. Here he ministered to an English-speaking refugee congregation and developed many of the ideas that were to be influential in...

In 1963, an organ built by Gruaz, was installed in the Auditoire de Calvin with a two-manual mechanical-action pipe organ.

It was felt during the 500th anniversary of Calvin's birth, celebrated in 2009 that a more versatile organ worthy of the setting could be well used in worship and for a wide range of concerts, and attract organists from the world over to the Auditoire.

A project was started by the Association for a New Organ in the Auditoire de Calvin to select and raise funds for a new instrument. After an intensive search, a representative group from the congregations using the Auditoire, advised by François Delor, official organist of the Cathedral of St Pierre in Geneva, selected Bernard Aubertin, a renowned French organ-builder, to build the new organ. Funds were raised through concerts, generous individual donations and support from the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation and the Loterie Romande. The new organ was installed in April 2014 and was celebrated and shared with the public through a concert festival that is now repeated annually and a dedication concert in the months following the installation.