Sidney Torch

Who was Sidney Torch?

Sidney Torch MBE 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 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.