Arizona Parish Launches Concert Series with New 5 Manual Masterpiece
May 21, 2009
It's a dream-come-true story for a music-loving parish in Arizona: first, the installation of an incredible pipe-digital organ with a combined 218 ranks, then a generous offer by two parishioners to sponsor a remarkable concert series.
For Our Lady of Lourdes Roman Catholic Parish in Sun City West, Arizona, the dream is now as real and solid as the smooth mahogany wooden pipes rising from their new cases. Five world-class artists have been booked for recitals that will begin in September and run through next June.
Gerald and Margaret Schuld, longtime parishioners and patrons of the arts around the state and the diocese, are sponsors of the concert series that will present:
- Jean-Baptiste Robin, titulaire organist at Poitiers Cathedral, France, and professor of organ at Conservatoire National de Region de Versailles (September 27, 2009)
- Daniel Sullivan, concert organist and faculty member at The Juilliard School, New York City (November 8, 2009)
- Paul Jacobs, chairman of the Organ Department at The Juilliard School (January 10, 2010)
- David Enlow, organist/choirmaster at the Church of the Resurrection, New York City (April 16, 2010)
- Isabelle Demers, concert organist and member of the music staff at Trinity Church Wall Street, New York City (June 13, 2010)
The organ at Our Lady of Lourdes came about through a partnership between the church, Rodgers' Arizona representative, NORAM Associates in Phoenix, and Vandaalen Pipe Organs. Consisting of 23 ranks of winded pipes and 195 digital ranks played from a custom Rodgers Trillium Masterpiece five-manual console, the organ is the largest combination instrument in Arizona.
The metal pipes are made from tin and lead alloy. The wooden pipes, as well as the trunking and winding system, are constructed from top-grade mahogany, and are seated on a slider actuated wind chest for maximum power and reliability. The quarter-cut white oak stained case surrounds the pipes and digital audio, providing an acoustical mixing chamber that blends the marvelous organ sounds into perfect harmony.
Contained within the magnificent casework at the rear of the church are the Great, Solo, Choir and Pedal divisions. The Swell division, which is under full expression, is positioned behind the elegant pipe façade at the front of the church. The antiphonal division is situated between the Swell and Great divisions just above the choir.
The organ console, with the latest in digital hardware and software technology, is the largest in Rodgers' Masterpiece custom organ line. With its 28 audio channels, it drives 32 tonal cabinets comprising 66 individual speakers.
Rodgers is the world's largest builder of stereo imaged church organs and pipe/digital organs. Rodgers is a member of the Roland Group, headed by Roland Corporation, a world leader in electronic musical instrument technologies and electronic musical instrument sales and manufacturing.
