Join the IPOD Community

International Portative Organ Day (IPOD) is a worldwide community of players, makers, researchers, teachers, enthusiasts, and others connected by the portative organ.

HOW?

Fill out this form to join us, connect with others, share ideas and experiences, participate in events and projects, and help shape the future of IPOD!

-> https://airtable.com/appPwzmFvn2Je32YK/pagCEITvm68h2Jhk6/form

WHEN?

Each year, on 21 November, we will connect across borders through digital participation, local events, and a shared international program.

WHERE?

For the 2026 edition, the main in-person and online event will be hosted by Het Orgelpark in Amsterdam. https://www.orgelpark.nl/

We encourage you to participate by creating and joining sustainable, formal, or informal IPOD events in your country—which we will support through our digital platforms!

21.November

International Portative Organ Day –

Manifesto

International Portative Organ Day, celebrated on 21 November, honors the portative organ: a small pipe organ in which the bellows are operated by the same musician who plays the keys, creating a uniquely direct relationship between breath, gesture, and sound.

Although the portative organ disappeared from common use roughly five centuries ago, it has been rediscovered and revived since the twentieth century by performers, instrument makers, and scholars dedicated to historical music traditions.

Today the instrument lives again—not only as a window into medieval sound worlds, but also as a platform for experimentation, new compositions, and performances across many musical styles.

On the eve of the feast of Saint Cecilia, musicians and enthusiasts around the world gather to celebrate the portative organ through meetings, performances, talks, workshops, and creative collaborations.

International Portative Organ Day welcomes professional and amateur performers, builders and enthusiasts alike, encouraging a lively and open community united by this timeless instrument.

What will you do as an ambassador?

1. Become a local representative within our community in  your region, country. 

2. Actively spread the word about IPOD within your local musical community and networks.

3. Help the organizing team to identify local players, builders, researchers, enthusiasts and instruments, contributing to the growing international map of the portative-organ community.

You may also:

4. Send us a video about you and your connection to the portative organ for sharing the initiative on social media.

5. Translate content to your language. 

6. Connect your local communities with the wider international IPOD network.

7. Encourage participation in the annual International Portative Organ Day, whether online or through a local gathering.

8. Initiate or support a local event on or around IPOD, if you wish.

9. Introduce people to one another, helping new connections grow across regions and countries.

A small note

• Ambassadors commit on a yearly basis, and can renew their involvement. 

• There are no obligations on the part of IPOD or our Ambassadors. 

• Being an IPOD Ambassador simply means helping the idea travel — connecting people, sharing enthusiasm and contributing to a growing international community around the portative organ.

Declaration of the International Portative Organ Day (IPOD)

We hereby proclaim 21 November as International Portative Organ Day.

The portative organ is a unique musical instrument in which the bellows are operated by the same musician who plays the keys, allowing a single performer to shape both sound and breath simultaneously. This intimate relationship between performer and instrument gives the portative organ a distinctive expressive character among keyboard instruments.

In artistic tradition, the portative organ is often associated with Saint Cecilia, the patron saint of music, who is frequently depicted holding this instrument in paintings and sculptures. Inspired by this symbolism, we have chosen the eve of her feast day as a moment to prepare the soundscape of the following day and to celebrate the living presence of music in our communities.

Historically, the portative organ flourished during the Middle Ages and early Renaissance. Although it largely disappeared around five centuries ago, the instrument has been rediscovered and revived during the twentieth century through the work of musicians, instrument builders, and researchers dedicated to historical performance practice.

Today the portative organ is valued not only as a window into medieval musical culture, but also as a vibrant instrument for contemporary creativity. It inspires new compositions, collaborations, and performances across many

musical genres.

International Portative Organ Day seeks to bring together a wide and open community of performers, instrument makers, scholars, and listeners. On this day we encourage gatherings, concerts, workshops, lectures, and informal meetings in which people may encounter the instrument directly and share their knowledge and enthusiasm.

We celebrate both historically informed reconstructions and innovative explorations of the instrument, welcoming professional and amateur musicians alike, and embracing musical styles ranging from medieval repertoire to newly created works.

By gathering on the eve of the feast of Saint Cecilia, we aim to set the gears of celebration in motion and allow the patron of music to resound with even greater intensity through an expanded and vibrant community of portative organ players and listeners around the world.

Through this shared celebration we affirm the continuing life of the portative organ—an instrument rooted in history, yet open to the imagination and creativity of the present.