Gene Bedient and Fred Zander, assisted by numerous volunteers, completed their move and installation of the 2003 Beckerath at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, OH in mid-April.

The 3 manual, 31 stop, 42 rank organ previously resided in the Ketterer residence in Washington, CT.  The purchase of the Wacek Memorial Organ is a result of years of fundraising and is now in the St. Turibius Chapel on the college campus.  More pictures and information are available at the college website:  http://www.pcj.edu/2007-08/organ_arrival.html

Gene and Fred have started disassembling and packing the Beckerath for its journey from Connecticut to Ohio.  Reassembly should be complete in early April.

While we wait for Spring to finally take hold of the plains, some of our crew are busily buttoning up wiring projects within Opus 80, our organ renovation/remodel for St. John’s Lutheran Church in Sacremento, CA.  Chad and Todd have taken residence in their respective organ halves routing cables for the Peterson system.

Woodworker Ed Stibal starts our Opus 82, a residence organ for Elaine Mann of Chippewa Falls, WI.  Similar to the Lincoln model in our Legacy Line, the organ will feature a white oak case with two manuals and pedal in this disposition:  I: Rohrflute, II: Gedackt 8, Pedal: Manual II/Pedal.  Elaine is organist for Grace Lutheran Church in Eau Claire, WI. 

   Bedient Pipe Organ Company has been chosen by the Pontifical College Josephinum, Columbus, OH, to relocate their newest purchase, a 2003 Beckerath.

   Originally built for the Stephen Ketterer residence in Washington, CT, the organ will be moved this Spring to the St. Turibius Chapel organ loft.  The three-manual/pedal, 31 stop tracker organ features white oak casework with pipeshades and other ornamentation guilded in gold leaf.

The organ is funded from a gift from the Wacek family of Marysville, KS, and other donations.

http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080216/LIFE/802160310

Organist Douglas Cleveland performed the dedication recital celebrating the completion of Bedient Opus 81 at First Congregational Church in Sioux Falls, SD, in early February.

“Douglas Cleveland was raised in Olympia, Washington and is a sixth generation Washingtonian. He has studied at the Eastman School of Music, Indiana University, and Oxford University. Cleveland received a Lilly grant to study advanced choral conducting with David Hill at Winchester Cathedral. Mr. Cleveland gained international prominence when he won first prize in the 1994 American Guild of Organists National Young Artists Competition in Dallas.Since then, he has performed in 48 of the United States and has been invited to perform in such venues as Westminster Abbey, the Berlin Cathedral, Stockholm Cathedral, Moscow Conservatory, Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, St. Patrick’s Cathedral inMelbourne, Minato Mirai Concert Hall in Yokohama, Japan, and the Cathedral of Lausanne, Switzerland.He has also performed with several symphony orchestras including the Chicago Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, Northwestern University Symphony and the National Symphony, for an audience of 3,000, at the Washington National Cathedral. Cleveland has performed with many early music ensembles, including Paul Hillier’s “Theatre of Voices.” A number of his performances havebeen broadcast on National Public Radio, the BBC, and the Northwest radio program “The Organ Loft.” From 1999 to 2004 he was assistant professor of organ at Northwestern University, where he received the Searle Award for Teaching Excellence. He has served as a visiting faculty memberat St. Olaf College and the University of Washington in Seattle. Since 2004, Cleveland has held the position of organist and director of music at Plymouth Congregational Church in Seattle, where he directs three choirs and administers a concert series. He is represented by Karen McFarlane Artists,Cleveland, Ohio.” From recital program.

From First Congregational:

“The completion of this marvelous instrument is the final phase in a project that has included remodeling of the Chancel area, acoustical improvements and enhanced lighting and sound. The goalof this project was to make our century-old “meeting house” a place where people come together,not only for worship, but for learning, public discourse and the sharing of ideas. It is a place that enables and encourages people to think and to learn, to listen and to speak, and to seek the sense ofcommunity that comes with the honest sharing of and respect for another belief or point of view.

We believe that God is still speaking, and we join together to discover and share that divine presence in our world today.The ability to express ourselves through the creation and appreciation of art is one of the ways inwhich we seek to encounter our still-speaking God. Our Sanctuary provides a place where a widevariety of arts are possible. An integral part of this worship and arts space is our pipe organ.

Our collaboration with the Bedient Organ Company has produced an instrument that incorporates the best of our past—there are pipes in the organ from 1922— with new pipework which expands andcompletes this versatile pipe organ. The casework created by Bedient to frame the new speaking façade makes a dramatic visual impact, beautifully blending with existing woodwork in the room.  Theorgan’s voice supports congregational song, inspires people in worship, and enables the performanceof a wide variety of organ literature. It will serve this church and community well for many years to come. Soli Deo Gloria!”

Most of the Bedient Pipe Organ crew descended upon First Congregational Church in Sioux Falls, SD, Nov 11, to begin installation of Opus 81.   Even with dozens of members of the congregation helping unload the truck, it took two hours to move all of the pieces indoors.  Fortunately, we were assisted by sunny skies and mild temperatures. The installation, essentially a complete renovation of the church’s 1967 Reuter, follows a successful resuscitation of the organ’s console and wind system Bedient completed several years ago.   While the organ’s original non-speaking façade included only pipes, the new façade features red oak casework designed to accentuate the frame and panel woodwork below the organ chamber. Featuring 20 round and triangular projections, the organ case is balanced by more than 100 pipes, most of them now speaking.   We also installed new Great and Pedal windchests and repositioned a refinished and reorganized console on a rolling dolly.   When completed, the organ will contain 15 new stops, bringing the total to 55.