Sidney Torch

Sidney Torch MBE (5 June 1908 - 16 July 1990) was a British pianist, cinema organist, conductor, orchestral arranger and a composer of light music.

Born Sidney Torchinsky of a Ukrainian father and an Estonian mother in London, Torch learned the rudiments of music very quickly from his father, an orchestral trombonist, who used to sit next to fellow trombonist Gustav Holst in such places as the old Holborn Empire. He worked as an accompanist before getting a job playing the Piano with the Orchestra of the Regal Cinema, Marble Arch, London. When the Cinema's Christie Theatre Organ was installed in 1928, Torch became the Assistant Organist to the Chief Organist, Quentin Maclean. Torch took over as Chief Organist at the Cinema in 1932. Maclean had left in 1930 to become Chief Organist of the Trocadero Cinema, Elephant and Castle and was followed at the Regal until 1932 by Reginald Fort. Torch's tenure at the Regal lasted until 1934.

Torch then played the organ in a number of London cinemas (amongst others, the Regal, Edmonton) and in 1937 he became the Chief Organist of the new Gaumont State Cinema, Kilburn. He continued to play the Wurlitzer there up until 1940, when he was drafted into the RAF and stationed near Blackpool. Torch would play and make recordings on the numerous Cinema Organs in the Blackpool area during his spare time. While in the RAF, Torch became the Conductor of the RAF Concert Orchestra, where he learned to arrange music and to conduct.

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Podcasts:

Sidney Torch

ALBUMS

Vintage Trains: Songs of the Steam Age

Released 2005

The Prisoner: File #3

Released 2002

A Time to Remember: 1950

Released 1998

Great British Experience

Released 1997

The Prisoner, Volume Three

Released 1992

Atmospheric - Misc/Shorts

Released 1986

Cinema Organ, Volume 1

The Vintage Collection 1

The Vintage Collection 2

A Time to Remember: 1949

Archives 5: 1940s and 1950s

Archive: Adventure

Archive: Dramatic Orchestral Moods

Archive: Nostalgic Moods for Film

Archive: Nostalgic Themes Revisited

Archive: Life in the 1940's

Archive: Vintage Recordings 2

Archive: Vintage Recordings 1

Archive: Ancient Civilizations

Archive: Millennium: Boom and Bust (1920-1939)

The Prisoner: File #3

Golden Hits of 1951

Themes From Children's BBC

Born: 1908-06-05

Died: 1990-07-16

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