July 17 - New York City

Stops in New York City included the Organ Clearing House's latest work, the reworked Casavant (1916) Organ at Church of the Resurrection on the Upper East Side. This is Opus408D's sister organ in the Organ Clearing House family!

Casavant Organ - Reworked by Organ Clearing House

 We visited the wonderful Shoenstein Organ at St. James' Church on Madison Avenue to get ideas about layout of the console. Notice all the expression pedals (the 5 ones in the middle above the pedal notes).

St. James Madison Ave., NYC

 On Tuesday night there was an installment in the Riverside Church Summer Organ Series. This is a tremendous Aeolian-Skinner famously played by my teacher, Marilyn Keiser who was assistant to Fred Swann. Fred was assistant to Virgil Fox prior to becoming the main organist. (Doesn't this sound like the "begats" in the Bible? It's very important to know who's who in the organ world.)

Tower of Riverside Church, NYC

 One of the most famous Aeolian-Skinners in NYC lives at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin (Smokey Mary's) near Times Square. We were allowed to play the organ but it was hard to hear because the doors were open and there was construction going on across the street. The extreme heat had effected the intonation. It was a wonderful opportunity however, to experience one of NYC's legendary organs.

High Altar - St. Mary the Virgin, NYC

Console, St. Mary the Virgin, Randy Elkins