National Press Kit (Opens as PDF)
The Craighead-Saunders Organ, a breathtaking 30,000-pound instrument that is the only one of its kind in the United States, will make its highly anticipated public debut during a series of concerts over five days in October.
The result of an eight-year research and construction project conducted on two continents, the Craighead-Saunders Organ replicates a rare and historic instrument built in 1776 in Lithuania by celebrated organ builder Adam Gottlob Casparini. Installed in Christ Church on East Avenue, the new organ is the first one in the United States to be built completely in the late-eighteenth century central and northern European style. An international team of organ builders painstakingly researched the original instrument, the only remaining example of a large organ by Casparini, in an effort to duplicate historic organ-building processes that could capture the grand enveloping sound characteristic of late Baroque organs.
“This completed project will provide the community with an organ more suitable for the music of Johann Sebastian Bach than anywhere else in North America,” said Hans Davidsson, professor of organ at the Eastman School of Music. Davidsson directed and oversaw the construction and installation of the organ, which is named in honor of two legendary Eastman faculty organists: Professor Emeritus David Craighead and the late Russell Saunders.
The public will have several opportunities to hear the organ during the inaugural concerts and events that are part of the Eastman School’s upcoming Eastman Rochester Organ Initiative (EROI) Festival. The Craighead-Saunders Organ is part of EROI, a long-range project to make Rochester a global center for organ research and performance, and is the focus of the seventh annual EROI Festival, Oct. 16 to 20. Davidsson is also project director of EROI.
“The inauguration of the Craighead-Saunders Organ is the result of a major collaboration to preserve and give life to an important artifact of musical and cultural history,” said Doug Lowry, dean of the Eastman School of Music. “It’s an important milestone in the development of the Eastman Rochester Organ Initiative.”
Performances on the Craighead-Saunders organ include two concerts by members of the Boston Early Music Festival Chamber Ensemble and the Christ Church Schola Cantorum on Friday, Oct. 17. “This gala performance will be significant because we’ll use the large baroque organ as the continuo instrument for Bach cantatas, which means playing the bass and harmony in accompaniment to the vocal and instrumental forces, just as Bach did,” said David Higgs, professor and chair of Eastman’s organ department.
The official inauguration of the Craighead-Saunders Organ will take place the previous evening at an event for invited guests. A schedule of EROI Festival concerts and events is online at https://www.esm.rochester.edu/eroi/festival-2008.php. Tickets for the organ concerts and EROI Festival public events are available through the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra Box Office, 108 East Ave., 585-454-2100, or online at https://www.esm.rochester.edu/concerts/tickets.php.Any unsold seats go on sale one hour before concert time, cash or checks only.
Besides the Eastman School, partners in the Craighead-Saunders organ project include the Episcopal Diocese of Rochester, the G�teborg Art Center in Sweden, and the Lithuanian Ministry of Culture. All of the new organ’s mechanicals were built by hand in Sweden and transported to Rochester, where the organ was constructed in Christ Church. Approximately 25 feet wide and 24 feet high, it has 2,000 pipes and sits on a balcony 12 feet above the sanctuary floor.
The Rt. Rev. Prince G. Singh, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Rochester, said, “We were honored to help support this historic project financially and to also provide a fitting home for the new organ. Russell Saunders, for whom the organ is named, was a longtime parishioner of Christ Church so we are pleased to help create this legacy to him.
“With this painstaking reproduction of an old world pipe organ, we also hope to enhance our spirit of worship as well as inspire congregations and organists of all denominations to revisit the role of the pipe organ in their own worship services.”
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Calendar Listings for EROI Festival Concerts and Public Events:
Oct. 17
1 p.m.
Craighead-Saunders Organ recital featuring Eastman alumni Roberta Gary, professor of organ and head of the keyboard division at the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati, and Larry Smith, professor and chair of the organ department at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music.
Christ Church, 141 East Ave.
Tickets: $15 ($12 for UR faculty and staff with ID; $10 for full-time students with ID). Available at the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra box office, 108 East Ave., 585-454-2100, or online at https://www.esm.rochester.edu/concerts/tickets.php. Any unsold seats go on sale one hour before concert time, cash or checks only.
Oct. 17
2:30 p.m.
The 2008 Glenn E. Watkins Lecture: “The Bach Expedition: New Biographical and Musical Discoveries,” by musicologist and Bach expert Christoph Wolff.
Christ Church, 141 East Ave.
Free and open to the public
Oct. 17
6:30 and 9:30 p.m.
Craighead Saunders Organ Gala Concert: Cantatas of J.S. Bach. Recital with the Christ Church Schola Cantorum and members of the Boston Early Music Festival Chamber Ensemble, under the direction of Paul O’Dette.
Christ Church, 141 East Ave.
Tickets: $30 ($25 for UR faculty and staff with ID; $20 for full-time students with ID). Available at the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra box office, 108 East Ave., 585-454-2100, or online at https://www.esm.rochester.edu/concerts/tickets.php. Any unsold seats go on sale one hour before concert time, cash or checks only.
Oct. 18
1 p.m.
Craighead-Saunders Organ recital featuring Eastman School of Music faculty David Higgs, Hans Davidsson, and William Porter.
Christ Church, 141 East Ave.
Tickets: $15 ($12 for UR faculty and staff with ID; $10 for full-time students with ID). Available at the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra box office, 108 East Ave., 585-454-2100, or online at https://www.esm.rochester.edu/concerts/tickets.php. Any unsold seats go on sale one hour before concert time, cash or checks only.
Oct. 18
8:30 p.m.
Craighead-Saunders Organ recital with Harald Vogel, a leading authority on the interpretation of German organ music from the Renaissance and Baroque eras.
Christ Church, 141 East Ave.
Tickets: $15 ($12 for UR faculty and staff with ID; $10 for full-time students with ID). Available at the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra box office, 108 East Ave., 585-454-2100, or online at https://www.esm.rochester.edu/concerts/tickets.php. Any unsold seats go on sale one hour before concert time, cash or checks only.
Oct. 19
Noon, and 1, 2, 3, and 4 p.m.
Organ Spectacular: World’s Largest Organ Concert. In conjunction with an international celebration by the American Guild of Organists. Mini-recitals by Ulrika Davidsson, Eastman School of Music students.
Fountain Court, Memorial Art Gallery, 500 University Ave.
Free with Gallery admission
Oct. 19
2 p.m.
Organ Spectacular: World’s Largest Org
an Concert. Recital by Craig Cramer on the new Paul Fritts &Company, Opus 26 organ.
Sacred Heart Cathedral, 296 Flower City Park
Tickets: $15 ($12 for UR faculty and staff with ID; $10 for full-time students with ID). Available at the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra box office, 108 East Ave., 585-454-2100, or online at https://www.esm.rochester.edu/concerts/tickets.php. Any unsold seats go on sale one hour before concert time, cash or checks only.
Oct. 19
4:15 p.m.
Organ Spectacular: World’s Largest Organ Concert. Recital by Matthew Dirst on the new Taylor and Boody, Opus 57 organ.
First Presbyterian Church, 25 Church St., Pittsford
Tickets: $15 ($12 for UR faculty and staff with ID; $10 for full-time students with ID). Available at the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra box office, 108 East Ave., 585-454-2100, or online at https://www.esm.rochester.edu/concerts/tickets.php. Any unsold seats go on sale one hour before concert time, cash or checks only.
Oct. 20
1 p.m.
Craighead-Saunders Organ recital, featuring Eastman School of Music organ students.
Christ Church, 141 East Ave.
Free
Oct. 20
8:30 p.m.
Craighead-Saunders Organ recital, with internationally known organists Ludger Lohmann, professor of organ at the Conservatory of Music and Performing Arts in Stuttgart, Germany, and Jacques van Oortmerssen, professor of organ at the Amsterdam Conservatory in the Netherlands
Christ Church, 141 East Ave.
Tickets: $15 ($12 for UR faculty and staff with ID; $10 for full-time students with ID). Available at the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra box office, 108 East Ave., 585-454-2100, or online at https://www.esm.rochester.edu/concerts/tickets.php. Any unsold seats go on sale one hour before concert time, cash or checks only.
Image Gallery
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The Craighead-Saunders Organ is a musical monument, each part painstakingly built by hand to reproduce a grand, 18th-century style organ suitable for the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. (Photo updated July 2009. Photo by Fotowerks.com ) |
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The Casparini Organ in Holy Ghost Church in Vilnius, Lithuania, built in 1776 by celebrated organ builder Adam Gottlob Casparini, is the model for its 20th-century twin, the Craighead-Saunders Organ. |
A close-up of the Craighhead-Saunders Organ shows the gilded ornamentation. The paints used on the organ were recreated according to original formulas. |
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The crown molding at the top of the Craighead-Saunders organ frames a stained glass in Christ Church. The gold stars spin when the organ is played. |
When the organ parts arrived in Rochester from Sweden in July 2007, the balcony had been erected, the back wall of the church had been broken through to create a room for the bellows, and scaffolding was up. |
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Installation of the organ was well underway by October 2007. |