From Generation to Generation ...

“From Generation to Generation, Farm to Town, Analog to Digital” tells the story of 15-year-old Jayson Matasovsky, his mother, and the journey leading to a new Rodgers organ at their church. 

These buildings have one thing in common: both are homes to Rodgers organs, played by 15-year-old Jayson Matasovsky, of rural Lakefield in southwestern Minnesota. The prairie shed on the Matasovsky family farm is the home for a 1987 Rodgers Essex 645 analog organ. Immanuel Lutheran Church, in the small town of Lakefield, has a 2023 Rodgers Imagine 235 digital organ.

Mother and son, Brenda and Jayson Matasovsky, were instrumental in Immanuel Lutheran’s choice of a Rodgers organ, installed by Rodgers Classic Organs (RCO) in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Upon their first meeting, it was clear to RCO president Peggy Bartunek that Brenda and Jayson had a unique and special story.

Brenda started piano lessons at the age of 5. The daughter of a pastor, she was encouraged at age 12 to serve as a church pianist and organist and has continued music ministry for over 38 years. As a child, Jayson observed Brenda teaching home lessons and playing piano and organ at church. When he was 7, Jayson began taking piano lessons with Deann Steele whose college emphasis was in organ, and when he was 12, he and Deann added organ to his studies. He practiced organ at Immanuel Lutheran Church where Brenda played.

Although he loved to play piano, in time, organ became his passion, enough that Brenda and Steve purchased a used Rodgers analog organ for Jayson to practice in Steve’s barely heated workshop. Each day, Jayson climbed a ladder to turn on a small heater, and faithfully practiced in his winter coat and hat, quickly becoming an accomplished young organist. 

In 2020, the family purchased a separate custom-made shed. Since its delivery, Jayson has enjoyed practicing in his own space with seasonally changing decor ranging from a Christmas theme in the winter to a lake theme in the summer. Although the seemingly private, isolated prairie shed is far from others, one quiet, calm night a neighbor from another farm called Brenda and asked if she was hearing organ music. Indeed, she was!

In addition to taking piano and organ lessons and playing at church, Jayson studied the internet, watching, listening, and dreaming about (literally) getting his hands on a larger, new digital Rodgers organ. Jayson discovered videos of Peggy Bartunek playing Rodgers organs on the YouTube page of Rodgers Classic Organs: http://www.youtube.com/@rodgersclassicorgans4719

In 2021, Jayson, Brenda, and Peggy met in person at a Rodgers organ dedication concert at St. Matthew Lutheran Church in Worthington, MN. In the summer of 2022, Immanuel Lutheran discovered they would need to replace their current organ. Unknowingly, this prior meeting with Peggy would lead to a conversation about a new Rodgers organ to replace Immanuel Lutheran’s aged pipe organ. Soon after, Brenda and Jayson, and Immanuel’s other two organists, presented their vision for a new organ to the Immanuel Lutheran congregation. With full congregational support, the project was quickly approved, and the organ was ordered.

When Peggy first visited Immanuel Lutheran to make plans for the organ installation, Peggy asked Jayson to play the old organ for her. Jayson’s quiet, humble demeanor had led her to expect to hear a relative beginner, so she was very surprised to hear that he was already a fairly advanced, very musical player, with excellent pedal technique.

As the installation approached, church members prepared the balcony pipe chambers for the main speakers and the chancel area for the antiphonal speakers. 

The organ was installed and voiced in May 2023. While Peggy was installing the external speakers, Jayson used the organ’s internal speakers to explore the organ’s stops and features. As she listened, it was clear that Jayson had an excellent sense of registration, and an ease of comprehension of how to access and tastefully register the pipe and orchestral voices. Brenda took a turn playing and Peggy quickly realized where Jayson had gotten his talent. While Peggy continued working, Jayson and Brenda played piano and organ duets, keeping Peggy entertained and delighted, knowing that the organ was going to be well-used by both musicians.  After the organ was installed, Peggy provided in-service to all of Immanuel Lutheran’s organists.  

Recently Immanuel Lutheran Church replaced the dark oak grill cloth in the rear balcony with a lighter-colored Guilford of Maine acoustically transparent grill cloth and installed backlighting in the chambers. Now the intricate wood façade is beautifully displayed.

With the encouragement of his parents, having started to play organ at such a young age, and with the talent, desire, and self-discipline to faithfully practice, Jayson has a very bright future as an organist. Although he will continue to practice the analog Rodgers in his prairie shed, Jayson will certainly be spending large amounts of time at Immanuel Lutheran playing the new Rodgers organ he had dreamed about. Jayson and Brenda will surely be sharing their mutual passion for the organ for many years to come.

Immanuel Lutheran’s new Rodgers organ was dedicated on June 11, 2023, featuring all four of the church’s organists who, in the few weeks following the installation, had diligently explored the organ’s pipe stops and orchestral voices. The concert featured hymn singing, organ solos, piano/organ duets, and a slide show presented by Brenda showing the old organ, the installation process, and the new organ. As the pastor said at the closing of the concert, “An organ is only as good as the players.”

Immanuel Lutheran Church is blessed to have excellent musicians who will make the most of the organ, all for the glory of God. Soli Deo Gloria.

Our thanks to Peggy Dahl-Bartunek for this story. For more information about Rodgers Classic Organs, please visit http://www.rodgersclassicorgans.com