Great organ to sound out to churchgoers again

Paris - Itaru Sekiguchi first heard the Great Organ of Notre Dame cathedral when he was 10. The "infernal sound" changed his life forever.

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"It was a bit of a culture shock," he said.

Today the Japanese, 53, is one of a handful of specialists entrusted with tuning and voicing the fabled instrument as Notre-Dame prepares to reopen on December 7 after a devastating fire in 2019.

The near 300-year-old colossus was miraculously spared by the flames.

Sekiguchi moved to France in his 20s to become an organ builder and restorer, dreaming of a chance to work on the "voice" of the masterpiece of Gothic architecture.

"I wanted to come to France because that's where it's happening. But when I told my family, they thought I was a bit out of my depth," Sekiguchi, who hails from Sendai in northeastern Japan, said in fluent French.