Leo Renier
Leo Renier is a Belgian musician and former Roman Catholic priest who has lived in the Philippines since 1969. He is known for preserving Spanish historical organs there and for founding the Las Piñas Boys Choir and the International Bamboo Organ Festival.
He spearheaded the restoration of the Bamboo Organ at St Joseph’s Church in Las Piñas and later helped inventory and restore other colonial instruments across the country, training local builders and organists so the heritage could be sustained. On Move’s Bamboo Organ (MD 3136) he appears as interviewee, recounting the instrument’s history, its restoration, and the festival he founded around it.
Leo Renier appears on
Bamboo Organ
Douglas Lawrence and the Manila Chamber Orchestra. Manila's suburb of Las Piñas boasts the world's only organ with pipes made from bamboo. Solo pieces and Handel's Organ Concerto in G minor show the instrument's range; a bonus disc interviews the restorer.