Project Description
Pipes Spectacular! — World's Largest Organ Concert is a one-day, nationwide celebration of the pipe organ in America. It is designed to entertain, inform, and engage new audiences for organ music, while giving seasoned listeners a fresh perspective on the organ's expansive repertoire. Pipes Spectacular will comprise more than 200 family-oriented concerts involving more than 2000 performers generating new friends, and reinvigorating existing audiences for the King of Instruments. It is a follow-up to the 1996 World’s Largest Organ Recital, the most successful community outreach effort in the history of the Guild.
The goal for this year 2000 event is twofold: to increase public awareness of the organ through collaboration with other arts and cultural organizations; and to help strengthen the Guild by raising funds to support educational and community outreach programs on both the local and national levels. Admission charges will be set by each chapter.
Pipes Spectacular will feature the organ in its historic and evolving roles as a solo instrument, as an accompanying instrument, and as an ensemble instrument. AGO chapters are encouraged to develop collaborative programming with local arts and cultural organizations. This could include adult and children's choirs, instrumentalists, orchestras, and even marching bands. "Informances," multimedia, and audiovisual technology that can be integrated into the concert to put the organ "on stage" are encouraged.
AGO National Headquarters will provide chapter resource kits that will include promotional material, art work, and suggested repertoire. Local chapters will benefit from a national wave of publicity surrounding the October 15 event.
Programming should include Widor's Toccata, Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, and music by American composers. Chapters are encouraged to program at least one work by Clarence Dickinson and Gordon Young to honor the members of the Clarence Dickinson Society who support the mission of the Guild through their estate plans.
For further information, please contact F. Anthony Thurman, Director of Development and Communications, AGO National Headquarters, 475 Riverside Drive, Suite 1260, New York, NY 10115. TEL 212-870-2310. FAX 212-870-2163. E-MAIL fathurman@agohq.org.
Registered AGO Chapters
(As of July 18, 2000)
Akron Chapter
Albuquerque Chapter
Ann Arbor Chapter
Baltimore Chapter
Baton Rouge Chapter
Berkshire Chapter
Bethel College Chapter
Big Country Chapter
Birmingham Chapter
Boone Chapter
Boston Chapter
Brazos Valley Chapter
Brooklyn Chapter
Buena Vista Chapter
Cache Valley Chapter
Cape Cod Chapter
Cape Fear Chapter
Central Arkansas Chapter
Central Florida Chapter
Central Iowa Chapter
Central Louisiana Chapter
Central North Carolina Chapter
Chambersburg Chapter
Charlotte Chapter
Charlottesville-Albermarle Chapter
Chattanooga Chapter
Chautauqua Chapter
Chicago Chapter
Chippewa Valley Chapter
Cimarron Chapter
Cincinnati Chapter
Clearwater Chapter
Cleveland Chapter
Columbia Basin Chapter
Dallas Chapter
Dayton Chapter
Delaware Chapter
Denver Chapter
Detroit Chapter
District of Columbia Chapter
Duquesne University Chapter
Durham-Chapel Hill Chapter
El Paso Chapter
Elkhart County Chapter
Eugene Chapter
Fairfield West Chapter
Fort Wayne Chapter
Gainesville Chapter
Galveston Chapter
Great Falls Chapter
Greater Bridgeport Chapter
Greater Kansas City Chapter
Greenville Chapter
Greenwood Chapter
Harrisburg Chapter
Hawaii Chapter
Houston Chapter
Indianapolis Chapter
Jacksonville Chapter
Kanawha Chapter
Kansas State University Chapter
Kern County Chapter
La Crosse Chapter
Lancaster Chapter
Lehigh Valley Chapter
Les Bois Chapter
Lima Area Chapter
Lincoln Chapter
Long Beach Chapter
Los Angeles Chapter
Louisville Chapter
Low Country Chapter
Lubbock Chapter
Madison Chapter
Manhattan School of Music Chapter
Milwaukee Chapter
Missoula Chapter
Monadnock Chapter
Monmouth Chapter
Montgomery Chapter
Muskegon-Lakeshore Chapter
Nassau Chapter
New Hampshire Chapter
New Haven Chapter
New London County Chapter
New York City Chapter
North Louisiana Chapter
North Shore Chapter
North Valley Chapter
Northeastern Connecticut Chapter
Northern Arizona Chapter
Northern Nevada Chapter
Northern New Jersey Chapter
Northwest Arkansas Chapter
Ogden Chapter
Olympia Chapter
Olympic Peninsula Chapter
Omaha Chapter
Orange County Chapter
Palm Beach County Chapter
Palomar Chapter
Peninsula Chapter
Pensacola Chapter
Philadelphia Chapter
Pittsburgh Chapter
Portland ME Chapter
Reading Chapter
Red River Valley Chapter
Rhode Island Chapter
Richmond Chapter
River Valley Chapter
Roanoke Chapter
Rockford Chapter
Sacramento Chapter
Salisbury Chapter
Salt Lake City Chapter
San Diego Chapter
San Francisco Chapter
San Joaquin Valley Chapter
San Jose Chapter
Sarasota-Manatee Chapter
Seattle Chapter
Seton Hill-Westmoreland County Chapter
South Dakota Chapter
Southeast Iowa Chapter
Southeast Minnesota Chapter
Southeast Ohio Chapter
Southeastern Massachusetts Chapter
Southern Nevada Chapter
Southern Oregon Chapter
Southwest Florida Chapter
Southwest Jersey Chapter
Space Coast Chapter
Spokane Chapter
Springfield MA Chapter
Springfield MO Chapter
St. Joseph Chapter
St. Louis Chapter
Stanislaus Chapter
Suffolk Chapter
Tacoma Chapter
Texhoma Chapter
Tidewater Chapter
Toledo Chapter
Topeka Chapter
Treasure Coast Chapter
Tri-State Chapter
Tulsa Chapter
University of Iowa Chapter
Valcour Chapter
Ventura County Chapter
Vermont Chapter
Waterbury Chapter
Western Illinois University Chapter
Wichita Chapter
Wilmington Chapter
Winston-Salem Chapter
Wisconsin River Chapter
Worcester Chapter
Yakima Valley Chapter
Yellowstone Chapter
York Chapter
The American Guild of Organists is pleased to welcome the Organ Historical Society, the Royal Canadian College of Organists, the Royal College of Organists, and the Virgil Fox Society as Pipes Spectacular partner organizations.
Pipes Spectacular National Spokesperson
John W. Obetz
Councillor for Finance and Development
13715 Pembroke Circle
Leawood, KS 66224
Tel: 913-681-1092, FAX: 913-681-1395
obetzj@umkc.edu
Pipes Spectacular National Task Force
David Bahrke, BS
Chorus Manager
Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra
330 East Kilbourn Avenue Suite 900
Milwaukee, WI 53202-6623
B: 414-291-6020, ext. 271
Fax: 414-273-6245
BahrkeD@milwaukeesymphony.org
J. Michael Barone, BM
PIPEDREAMS
Minnesota Public Radio
45 East 7th Street
St. Paul, MN 55101
B: 651-290-1539
mbarone@mpr.org
Ray Biswanger, BA
President
Friends of the Wanamaker Organ
224 Lee Circle
Bryn Mawr, PA 19010-3726
H: 610-519-1349
Fax: same
Courboin@aol.com
Charles Smith, MM
9209 Simmons Road
Austin, TX 78759-7157
H: 512-794-0198
Fax: same
csmith@ccsi.com
Media Representative
Stewart Strategies Group
1770 Massachusetts Ave., #600
Cambridge, MA 02140
Voice: (617) 441-8834
Fax: (617) 489-6886
art@stewartgrp.com