Kánský a Brachtl organ-building workshop was established in April of 1995.
At the beginning of its operation on the domestic market, its activity was focused on reconstructions and building of instruments with electric tracker action. In this early period, 2 significant large concert instruments in Karviná (1997) and Odry (1998) were created. A contract for respectful restoration of a large three-manual organ in the St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague (1999-2001) represented a breaking point in development of the workshop. To the present day, the workshop has been highly appreciated in the field of organ restoration for this successful work and it was entrusted with other demanding restoration and reconstruction contracts.
A contract for the construction of a two-manual organ for the St. Anthony Church in Hradec Králové represented another significant job. In this case, the workshop abandoned the unsophisticated system with electric tracker action and returned to the long established tradition of mechanical tracker action. Immediately after its construction, the instrument was met with a good response from the expert public. It was recorded on several CDs and it was also selected in 2002 as a contribution to the a live broadcast of Český Rozhlas to Euroradio.
Jaromír Kánský and Josef Brachtl are also engaged in professional training in pipe organ building and restoration. They made several study travels to the Western Europe (the Netherlands, Germany, France, Italy) where they could meet both significant historical and modern instruments, as well as organ builders and organologists. Without these experiences, several other instruments that directly draw on the foreign and historical sources and divert once for all from the Krnov factory practices.
Kánský a Brachtl organ-building workshop successfully builds modern mechanical instruments for modern premises: For example, organ in the Trappist Monastery in Nový Dvůr u Teplé in cooperation with significant John Pawson Architects Office in London (2007); organ in the Virgin Mary Church in Strašnice in Prague (2008); new organ in Darkovice u Hlučína (2010) and building a new two-manual instrument for the Trappist Monastery in Sept-Fons in France, once again in cooperation with the John Pawson Architects Office (2010).
The workshop also builds exact replicas of 17th and 18th century organs: organ in the St. George Baptist Church in Hlučín (2006); in Humpolec (2004); in Smiřice (2009) as well as its most significant instrument in the Břevnov Monastery in Prague (2007). This organ are built as replicas including materials, its manual working, construction and method of intonation with historical tuning. The focus is on craft working of fine instruments to ensure that their design conforms with its acoustic ideal.
The workshop gained significant experiences in restoration of historical instruments. The workshop made restorations of precious instruments from Prague, Ostrava, Krnov, Opařany, Náměšť nad Oslavou and other cities. In 2011, the organ-building workshop completed, together with German company Eule Orgelbau, exacting restoration of organ in the St. Salvator Church in Prague built in 1780. Jaromír Kánský is the holder of a licence to restore organs granted by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic.
