On April 23, with a special concert, the Spreckels Organ in San Diego’s Balboa Park dedicated the latest and final ranks of pipes that completed its “Drive to 5000” capital campaign and took the title as the world’s largest outdoor pipe organ. Long ranked as second, the organ has been expanded to 5,005 pipes, outranking the Heroes’ organ in Austria’s Kufstein Fortress with 4,948 pipes. The campaign led to the addition of 280 pipes.
San Diego Civic Organist Carol Williams premiered “A La Romantique” from her Organ Symphonie, a new composition written for the occasion. Williams was joined by Civic Organist Emeritus Robert Plimpton, Russ Peck, soprano Diane Alexander, percussionist Jason Ginter, Balboa Park Carillonist Gina Seashore, actor Miles Anderson, and the House of Scotland Pipe Band. The evening was sponsored by the Spreckels Organ Society.
The Spreckels Organ was inaugurated on December 31, 1914, when from his presidential desk, Woodrow Wilson touched a telegraph key that set off fireworks and lit the organ pavilion’s 1,644 incandescent bulbs launching the Panama-California International Exposition.
For information: https://spreckelsorgan.org.
