Tonal Finishing Completed for Opus 25
Our organ at St. Andrew’s Episcopal in Ann Arbor has reached completion. Bruce Fowkes, Patrick Fischer, and David Kazimir have put the finishing touches on the final pipes. Here’s a short video of our friend David Kazimir sight-reading to demonstrate the organ.
Gott sei gelobet und gebenedeiet by Heinrich Scheidemann
David Kazimir
Easter Sunday 2021
Music director Dr. Stephan Casurella has graciously allowed us to share his recent performance of Tournemire’s colorful Easter improvisation, Victimae Paschali. It is clear that Opus 24 enjoys performing French repertiore, and we hope that you enjoy this recording as much as we did. Happy Easter!
Victimae Paschali by Charles Tournemire
Dr. Stephan Casurella
Christmas 2020 at St George's Hanover Square
In 2012 we were honored to build a new organ for St George’s Hanover Square in London. Since then, we have felt a very close connection to the church and its music program. Every year since 1977, The Story of Christmas Appeal has been presented at St George’s, which raises donations for a wide variety of charities. With the COVID-19 restrictions and social distancing in place this year, many of us are feeling a need for a little more Christmas light in our lives. May your Christmas be happy and we all look forward to the new year.
We invite you to enjoy this special video production for 2020.
Christ Church Cathedral
Opus 24 — Cincinatti, OH
Tonal Finishing Progress
After interruptions in our installation schedule due to COVID-19 we are nearing the end of the voicing of our new organ in Cincinnati. Bruce is completing the mixtures (there are a LOT) and is part way through finishing the reeds (there are 14). We are very excited about the sound of the organ and there has been an excellent reception to the Art Deco casework. We are hoping to finish everything in January 2021.
We have included a couple of photos of the completed casework and there are links in the right column to high resolution version. Sound samples are coming soon!
Trinity Church Wall Street
All Saints’ Chapel
New York City
We are pleased to announce a contract with Trinity Church Wall Street for our Opus 26, to be installed in All Saints’ Chapel, adjacent to the main nave.
Trinity Church was granted a charter from King William III of England in 1697 and the first Trinity Church was erected at the head of Wall Street facing the Hudson River. Although Anglican services had been held in the colony’s fort chapel, the building was the first Anglican Church on the island of Manhattan. The present structure, designed by architect Richard Upjohn and consecrated in 1846, is the parish’s third building. Added in 1912, All Saints’ Chapel was designed by architect Thomas Nash in a 14th century English Gothic Style. Boston organ-builder Hook & Hastings provided the original nine-stop organ, housed in casework also designed by Nash.
The new organ will retain the Nash case in a slightly modified form, supplemented with new woodwork at either side, along with significant modifications to the chamber to improve the environment and tonal egress. The manuals will have 50 keys controlling 61 notes, while the pedal clavier will contain 26 keys controlling 31 notes. These unusual appointments pair to quarter-comma meantone tuning with 15 pipes for each 12 note octave. The enharmonic notes of D#/Eb, G#/Ab, and A#/Bb will be selected by individual mechanical switching.
Delivery of the organ is expected in Spring 2022, with completion later that year. Click here for full details and stop list.
December 8, 2019
Opus 24 Open House
We invite everyone to an open house at our shop for our Opus 24 for Christ Church Cathedral in Cincinatti. This organ represents two and a half years construction time in our shop and is the largest instrument we have built.
Fall 2019
Autumn is here and for many it marks the transition from summer holidays to the beginning of the school year. We at Richards, Fowkes & Co. are anticipating the arrival of cooler temperatures and opening the doors and windows for an al fresco workshop as we push toward the completion of our largest organ to date for Christ Church Episcopal, Cincinnati OH, our Opus 24.
While the current project has a nearly identical disposition and footprint to our Opus 22 in Kansas City, the white oak casework is nearly 12 feet taller, the center tower being taller than our erecting room. This allows for an enclosed Positive division above the console for choral work, a generous Great front and center, and an elevated Swell behind. The ample height of the church sanctuary meant we could design the major sections of the instrument to the tested acoustics of the room. We thoroughly examined the height and placement of the elements and then looked to Art Deco skyscrapers for massing and details that emphasize lightness and verticality of the organ within the space. The black backgrounds and blond maple elements articulate and streamline richly stained white oak of the cantilevered pedal towers and forward-angled center section to unify the Deco concept as a coherent vision. Click here for full details and stop list.
The second photo is of our completed Opus 23 in Stonington, CT. The handsome warm case is inspired by extant American organs of the 1840’s. Click here for full details and stop list. Thanks to Christopher Greenleaf for the professional photo.
Our shop has also experienced a few departures and arrivals along the way; welcoming Alex Haas and Nathan Govig, who come to us via the Chattanooga Woodworking Academy, Rick Mcusic’s move to full time, and the addition of our newest apprentice Jacob Barger.
Please be sure to friend us on Facebook and keep up to date with more of the day-to-day activities of the shop as well as an upcoming open house for the instrument being assembled (date TBA).
In the last couple of years we have been very lucky in having three new people join our team. Two of them, Nathan Govig and Alex Hass trained at the Chattanooga Woodworking Academy. The incredible training has helped us tremendously and it is also a chance for all of us to renew our own training. The third addition, Jakob Barger, comes with experience in music and excellent hand skills.
Be sure to friend us on Facebook and keep up to date with more of the day-to-day activity in the shop.
March 2016
After a reasonably mild winter the Tennessee River Valley has ushered in an early spring with blossoms, flowers, and trees in full bloom. This week delivered the first temperatures above 80 degrees.
We have continued to enjoy the additional space of our new expanded shop. The flexibility and breathing room has proven very helpful in enhancing the workflow in each area of the shop. With a 59 stop organ underway the additional space has made our biggest project to date much more manageable and efficient.
The work on Op. 22 is going very well. We are currently preparing the case for painting and finishing while the key and stop action are moving forward. The pipework is complete so we’re in the final push to prepare the instrument for delivery to Village Presbyterian in early summer.
Some work has also begun on Op. 23, our next project for Calvary Church in Stonington, CT. We look forward to the challenge of a smaller instrument which we hope to deliver in early 2017.
Our new buildings, part of our expansion, were recently completed. We could not be more happy to have space!
Be sure to friend us on Facebook and keep up to date with more of the day-to-day activity in the shop.
New recordings…
Recently, there have been three new releases of recordings on our instruments. Thanks to each of the artist for their contributions to the discography of our organs. The links to each of the recordings are listed below.
A special thanks to Simon Thomas Jacobs for his recording on the organ at St George’s, Hanover Square, London. The recording and the instrument are garnering some great reviews!
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