35 stops, 42 ranks, 2,445 pipes on three manuals and pedal
Holtkamp Organ Company has built a new for for Central Christian Church, Lexington, Kentucky. Job #2127 comprises 35 stops, 42 ranks, 2,445 pipes on three manuals and pedal.
A. E. Schlueter Pipe Organ Company, Lithonia, Georgia; 50th Anniversary
We are privileged to be celebrating our 50th anniversary and are thankful for the organ work that has been entrusted to the company. This past December we held our Christmas luncheon with many of our staff, supporters, and friends, and offered a prayer of thanksgiving for our success and all who have sustained us. It is humbling to be celebrating this milestone in work that supports worship.
“These people will be your friends for life,” Karel Paukert pronounced to his organ class at Northwestern University in the mid-1970s. Looking around, we students likely smirked, unable to imagine this motley crew being lifelong friends. Almost exactly fifty years later, on November 17, 2023, many of those former students along with colleagues, family, and church members gathered to celebrate Karel’s life of teaching, leading, and performing.
Great Britain’s King George III (1738–1820), whose oppressive rule over the American colonies led to the American Revolutionary War, has resurfaced in public conversation as a character in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s brilliant musical, Hamilton. In the king’s featured song, “You’ll be back” (in the style of The Beatles), the crazy king addresses the colonists, singing,
Robert Eugene Leftwich died January 13, 2024. He was born July 2, 1940, in Texas and grew up in Longmont, Colorado. He attended Baylor University, where he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in 1963. He earned a master’s degree from Northern Illinois University in 1970 and a doctorate in nursing education in 1977 from Clayton University, St. Louis, Missouri.
Died February 10 in Sonoma, California
Robert D. Rhoads, 88, retired vice president and technical director of Schoenstein & Co., Benicia, California, died February 10 in Sonoma, California. Born in Burbank, California, his family moved to a farm in Sunnyside, Washington. Rhoads attended Simpson College in Washington and assisted in relocating the college to San Francisco. Part of that project was installing two campus pipe organs. In San Francisco, he earned an AA in electrical engineering from Cogswell College while working on installation and maintenance of industrial boilers.
Appointed assistant director of music for Wells Cathedral, UK
Carolyn Craig is appointed assistant director of music for Wells Cathedral, UK.
Baltimore, Maryland
The Organ Historical Society annual convention takes place July 21–25 in Baltimore, Maryland.
The schedule will feature organs by Johnson & Son, W.B.D. Simmons, Hall & Labagh, Henry Niemann, Casavant Frères, Frank Roosevelt/Austin Organ Co./David M. Storey, Hilborne Roosevelt, George Jardine & Son, Wilson S. Reiley, M.P. Möller, Adam Stein, Pomplitz Church Organ Co., J.H. & C.S. Odell, Andover Organ Company, Skinner Organ Company, Thomas Hall, Schantz Organ Co., Roosevelt, Stein, Erben, Pomplitz, Henry Niemann, and others.
Abbey Church of the Holy Cross
Fratelli Ruffatti has completed the installation of a new organ for the Abbey Church of the Holy Cross in the market town and civil parish of Pershore, Worcestershire, England.
