50 Years
THE ORLA ORGAN COMPANY CELEBRATES 50 YEARS OF HOME ORGANS
In this day and age it is no mean feat for a company to achieve such a milestone, but in the Organ & Keyboard market this is something of a rarity. Even more so when you find out that the company has remained in the ownership of the same two families for the whole of the time.
The ORLA story begins as far back as 1957 when Nazzarino Orlandoni (known to everyone in the trade as Mimmo) started a company manufacturing parts for Accordions and Reed Organs. The company was located in the historic town of Castelfidardo in the Marche region of Italy. Today Castelfidardo is still regarded by many as the Accordion capital of the world, if not the musical instrument capital of Italy.
It is likely that almost every Accordion, Organ and Keyboard ever produced has either been designed, tested or manufactured in the Castelfidardo area.
In the 1970’s and 80’s, the whole town was bustling with companies producing “electronic” Organs and Keyboards as well as the long established traditional Accordion companies. Many of you may recall brands such as Farfisa, Gem, Godwin, Elka and Welson, all of whom were major players in the Organ world. At one point there was in excess of 20 Organ manufacturers based in the same town!
from left - Prestige 61 circa 1973, OP10 circa 1981 and Roma circa 1993
During the early days Mimmo was joined by his brother in-law Alfio Monaci and a new company called ORLA was born. The company soon started producing organs. Over the years ORLA successfully interpreted the trends of the music market and has gone on to produce Keyboards, Digital Pianos, Expanders and Electronic Accordions. In 2012 ORLA is the last remaining Italian company manufacturing a full line of electronic musical instruments.
As previously mentioned, what started as a two family business has very much remained that way over the years, with the 3rd generation of both families now becoming involved. Currently Enrico Monaci, Alfio’s son, is the Product Development and Sales Director for Global Exports whilst Claudia Orlandoni, Mimmo’s daughter, is the Accounts and Purchasing Director. Lucia, Enrico’s wife, heads up the Logistics, Export and Domestic Sales function whilst Carlo, Claudia’s husband, is in charge of the Production Department. And what with their children now becoming involved, you can see that ORLA is a family business in true Italian style.
As well as producing for themselves, ORLA has gained a reputation within the sector for the development and production of other manufacturers instruments. Indeed, there are many products on sale around the world that have been developed and produced by ORLA, but that carry a different brand name.
In more recent years ORLA moved just outside of Castelfidardo into a new purpose-built factory in a modern industrial area. Companies from the international music industry (American, Japanese and European) continue to use the Research, Development and Production facilities that ORLA has to offer. ORLA has exhibited at the International Frankfurt Musik Messe for the past 35 years and also exhibited regularly at the USA Namm Shows. International distributors have presented ORLA manufactured products at all the major national and regional music exhibitions throughout Europe, USA, the Middle East, China and Australia.
Luca Serenelli with Paul Carman in China 2010
Another key member of the ORLA R&D team in Italy is Luca Serenelli. He has been responsible for many of the fine samples used in the instruments and many of the innovations that have appeared over the years.
The main strategy of ORLA is to ensure that the family tradition of good and reliable products with a taste of Italian culture is realized in all their products. The sounds are selected and carefully sampled making sure that the result will be a warm and clear sound, pleasant for beginners and professional players alike. The styles are the result of long hours of collaboration between ORLA personnel and distributors across Europe (Italy, England, Germany and Holland). It is this attention to detail that guarantees the completed package will be in tune with the request of the various markets.
In an era when many instruments have become very similar in terms of what they offer, ORLA has remained rather unique by virtue of the fact that they have retained many of their traditional values. For example; there was a time when Organs focused primarily on Orchestral voicing, and yet at that time ORLA stuck by their concept of traditional Flutebars. At the time it wasn’t the ‘trendy’ thing to do, but take a look now – there’s hardly a product that doesn’t have some form of Flutebar system! ORLA were also one of the first companies to offer a modern style keyboard with a dedicated pedalboard option so that it could still be played in true organ style. From the early days of the KX400 to the modern day Sport 2, this type of product remains an integral part of their product range.
The Organ & Keyboard world has changed beyond all recognition since those early “electronic” years, and ORLA have successfully negotiated and evolved, where many of the company’s original competitors have sadly fallen by the wayside.
The team at ORLA Direct would like to congratulate ORLA in Italy for reaching the 50 Year milestone and we know they begin the next era with the same vision and determination that was evident half a century ago.