Johannes Klais Orgelbau

What they do

Klais designs, builds and restores pipe organs, from village church instruments to some of the largest concert hall organs in the world. Each organ is a one-off, designed for the acoustics and architecture of its room, built in the Bonn workshop on Kölnstraße, then shipped and voiced on site. The firm also restores historic instruments.

Why it matters

Organs are among the most complex mechanical objects people make by hand, and Klais has exported them on a scale few workshops can match. Its instruments include the Cologne Cathedral organs (1998), the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg (2017, 4,765 pipes), Symphony Hall in Birmingham (2001, about 6,000 pipes and the largest mechanical-action organ in the UK) and the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing (2007, about 6,500 pipes and 94 stops, described as the largest organ in China). Others stand in the Petronas Philharmonic Hall in Kuala Lumpur, the Esplanade in Singapore, Bath Abbey and St Peter's Lutheran Church in New York.

Products to know

• Concert hall organs: large symphonic instruments for halls in Europe, Asia and Australia.
• Cathedral and church organs: including Aachen, Cologne and Trier.
• Restorations: of historic instruments.

The German angle

Johannes Klais trained in Alsace, Switzerland and southern Germany before opening his Bonn workshop in 1882, on the street where Beethoven was born, according to the Hong Kong music magazine Interlude. He patented high-pressure stops before 1900, and the firm introduced electric action in 1906. Leadership passed from father to son: Hans Klais from 1925, Hans Gerd Klais from 1965 and today Philipp Klais, the founder's great-grandson. Four generations on, the workshop still builds every instrument as a one-off for its room.

Sources

• Wikipedia: Klais Orgelbau
• Interlude: Klais organs, the power behind the throne
• City of Bonn: Die Orgelbauwerkstatt Klais