Grace Church took delivery of a new pipe organ on
October 2, 2007. It arrived, unassembled, in hundreds of boxes
and packing crates. It's 2,853 pipes, ranging in size from 20
feet to as small as a pencil, are fashioned from wood, "spotted
metal," or copper. The organ was built over 18 months by
Casavant Frères, a Canadian company located in Québec.
Installation of the organ took 4 weeks and the
voicing lasted almost another 4 weeks. Visitors to this website
were able to keep track of the installation process through a
special "organcam."
The
organ was played during worship services for the first time the
weekend following Thanksgiving. The Bishop of the Diocese of
Atlanta, The Right Rev. J. Neil Alexander, was present at Grace
Church on Sunday, January 20, 2008 at a service of Evensong and Dedication
and Blessing.
listen to the service
A
Dedicatory Recital was performed by our Director of Music, Dr. David Burton-Brown
on April 20. The repertoire
of organ compositions were quite varied in theme, style and
era.
A member
of our Vestry wrote in the December 16, 2007 issue of our church newsletter, "Christians
at Grace Episcopal Church have been given a glorious gift and a
mandate to add our voices to those 3,000 new ones above our
heads." We look forward to doing just that.
