Parish Church of St. Jerome - Tulsa

Oklahoma, USA

Two manual Trillium model 787E with Antiphonal and PR300S MIDITo Whom It May Concern:In April of 2003 I began serving as Music Director and Organist for the Parish of St. Jerome in Tulsa, Oklahoma. My Conditions for accepting the post depended upon the church purchasing a new organ within 12 months. The existing organ was over 20 years old and much of it was not functioning.After weighing many options such as sound quality, value vs. price and technology itself, I recommended we pursue the Rodgers Trillium line of organs. Not only have I been a church organist for over 30 years, but I am an audio engineer and producer, having recorded, produced and performed keyboard/MIDI as well. The MIDI technology (due in part to Roland now owning Rodgers) built into the Rodgers organs is a breakthrough for the classical as well as contemporary church musician. I implement external MIDI interfaces with our Rodgers in a classical setting and truly appreciate the dedicated MIDI presets. Additionally, the alternate registration selections built into the instrument such as a Royal Trumpet, strings and harpsichord, make it surprisingly flexible. I might add that the Royal Trumpet was a TREMENDOUS success at the Easter Vigil Mass!Fundamentally a student of the classical repertoire, and a native of Lancaster, Pennsylvania - a historical community where seemimgly every church has a pipe organ, I was amazed at how well our Rodgers gave the absolute feeling of playing a pipe organ. The slight decay when opening the swell box, the quality of true stereo sound samples and the dimensional surround-sound effect makes playing on the Rodgers an out-of-church experience. Although our sanctuary has a high plaster vaulted ceiling, the organ goes beyond the room's acoustics to give an alternative acoustic reality. The congregation was shocked the first time they heard the new organ, and I heard over and over again, "I never knew what an organ was SUPPOSED to sound like until now!"Mike Bennett at Saied Music Company in Tulsa was a pleasure to work with and did an excellent job in assesing our needs. The church is one of the oldest in Tulsa and Mike worked diligently with us in a very tight frame to get the organ installed and voiced by Holy Week. He has called me a number of times to follow up to make sure everything is to my satisfaction. The day before we were to debut the organ, I requested that some minor adjustments be done to re-voice the organ (balancing certain stop volumes and tones). Mike was there to get things done just right for the Easter Vigil mass, which as I mentioned earlier, was a huge success.Knowing that Rodgers has a complete line of organs - smaller and larger than the one we puchased - I would strongly recommend your consideration of a Rodgers organ and Saied Music Company when purchasing a classical church organ.Barry K. Krueger AGO, BMIMay 15, 2003 Tulsa, OK