Christ the King Chapel St. John Vianney Theological Seminary Denver, Colorado Kegg Pipe Organ Builders • Hartville, Ohio By Charles Kegg View the Stop List View the Mixture Compositions Every new pipe organ project, large or small, has a unique sense of importance. Rarely are we afforded the opportunity to build an instrument that will inspire generations of clergy to high ideals. Our new organ at St. John Vianney Theological Seminary is a rare honor for an organbuilder. The goal we shared with associate professor of sacred music Mark Lawlor was to build an instrument suited primarily to the multiple daily Masses of the seminarians. The failing electronic organ from 20 years ago had “replaced” the original 1931 Kilgen pipe … [Read more...]

SS. Simon and Jude Cathedral Phoenix, Arizona Peragallo Organ Company Paterson, New Jersey by John Peragallo IV View an enlarged cover View the Stop List  “Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood.” --Daniel Burnham As organbuilders, we are uniquely privileged to experience many rewarding moments in the process of seeing a new pipe organ come to life. Those moments are all the more amplified when this process includes a vibrant ministry that will realize the full potential of the new instrument. From our first interactions with the staff and organ committee at the Cathedral of SS. Simon and Jude, we sensed that the pipe organ was going to serve as the cornerstone of sacred music within the Diocese of … [Read more...]

First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church Duxbury, Massachusetts Andover Organ Company • Lawrence, Massachusetts By Matthew M. Bellocchio View an enlarged cover View the Stop List  Duxbury, on the Atlantic coast 35 miles southeast of Boston, was settled by some of the original Mayflower Pilgrims. By 1632, a group including John Alden and Myles Standish left their small Plymouth farms and went north to work larger lots along Massachusetts Bay. In 1637, their settlement, having met the legal requirements to be set off as a separate community with its own church, was incorporated as Duxborough (original spelling), the second town in the Plymouth Colony. Elder William Brewster was the church’s first leader. The church embraced the … [Read more...]

St. Paul's Chapel of Trinity Church Wall Street New York City Noack Organ Company • Georgetown, Massachusetts View an enlarged cover View the stop list View a sample week of music-making at Trinity Wall Street From the Director of Music and Arts From my first day at Trinity Church Wall Street, I have urgently desired to see world-class pipe organs reinstalled in Trinity’s three liturgical spaces—not merely our iconic 1846 Richard Upjohn building at the intersection of Broadway and Wall Street and its attached All Saints Chapel, but also in St. Paul’s Chapel, Trinity’s second functioning church home dating from 1766, five blocks up from Trinity Church at Broadway and Fulton Street. To my core, I believe that living, breathing … [Read more...]

Shandon Presbyterian Church Columbia, South Carolina Lewtak Pipe Organ Builders by Tomasz Lewtak View an enlarged cover View the Stop List  Building a three-manual tracker instrument is exciting and challenging. In the case of Shandon Presbyterian Church, the greatest predicament stemmed from the limited space in which the sizable organ is placed. All 3,075 pipes, including the full-length 16'´reed and open 16' Contre Viole, had to be fitted within a 135- square-foot area. It nearly put us beyond our comfort zone, as we realize the importance of accessibility to all pipes and internal components. The solution came with many hours of creative design. The end result is tight, but comfortable. Rather than provide obvious … [Read more...]

Key to Pipe at the Speed of Light Grace Episcopal Church Hartford, Connecticut Schoenstein & Co. and Peterson Electro-Musical Products Inc. View an enlarged cover View the Stop List For generations, Grace Episcopal Church has held a well-deserved reputation for its traditional Anglo-Catholic liturgy and its fine music program headed by Kyle Swann, who is also lecturer in opera at Yale University. The church is quite small, seating only 112—a village church in the heart of a big city. It has a very pleasant, resonant acoustic; amid the grandeur of the ceremony, the setting seems spacious. However, space for the organ is another matter! Sixteen stops, 18 ranks was the absolute limit without encroaching upon already-tight space for … [Read more...]

The New Organ at Pilgrim Lutheran Church Carmel, Indiana Buzard Pipe Organ Builders by John-Paul Buzard View an enlarged cover View a Stop List Pilgrim Lutheran Church’s former building was located on land that the State of Indiana purchased to create a new entrance ramp for I-465; their parking lot was purchased by another institution. The congregation was therefore able to relocate and erect a new building without the need for fund-raising, although the process occupied more than ten years. Early in their planning process, Pilgrim’s organ committee selected Buzard Pipe Organ Builders for their hoped-for new organ in what was then their hoped-for new building. Imagine my delight and surprise when many years following our … [Read more...]

The Episcopal Church of SS. Andrew and Matthew Wilmington, Delaware Quimby Pipe Organs Inc. • Warrensburg, Missouri by T. Daniel Hancock Cover photo credit: Danny Schweers View the Stop List View an enlarged cover The Episcopal Church of Saints Andrew and Matthew (SsAM) is a vibrant faith community located on the southwestern edge of downtown Wilmington, Delaware, where the center city district gives way to the historic Quaker Hill neighborhood. Founded in 1996, SsAM is the result of a carefully considered and executed combination of two Episcopal parishes: St. Andrew’s Church, founded 1829, and St. Matthew’s Church, founded 1846. St. Andrew’s was primarily a white congregation, while St. Matthew’s was predominately black; … [Read more...]