Having served the congregation of the First Baptist Church for over one hundred years, and now being cared for under the management of Epsilon Spires, the organ has a new life as a concert instrument.
Estey organ company full#
Today the organ boasts 29 ranks of pipes, three manuals, and four divisions, making possible a full orchestral sound. He replaced the old console, and put in the one in use today. Hewitt, an organ builder from Brattleboro who worked for the Estey Organ Company. The organ’s last rebuild took place in 1958 by Elroy E. Over the years, the organ was rebuilt twice to extend the tonal range of the instrument and keep it up to date, although its original electro-pneumatic parts still work today as they did in 1906. In 1906 an Estey Pipe Organ was donated to the First Baptist Church by the grandchildren of Estey Organ Company founder and First Baptist Church supporter and congregant Jacob Estey and his wife Desdemona. Tortolano’s work has included over 60 editions of music, six books, and in his younger days, concerts at Notre Dame, Paris, as well as recitals in the United States, Canada, Holland, England, Scotland and Italy. The recital will explore the many tonal colors of the organ in such diverse compositions as Three Synagogue Preludes by Reuven Kosakoff American Folk Melodies by the blind jazz musician, George Shearing Music by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, African English and the Gregorian Chant Suite, Mariales by Lebanese composer, Naji Hakim.ĭr. Tortolano still considers himself not retired. By the mid-1860s, Cottage Organs had supplanted melodeons in popularity, so the company focused on the organs. His company first made melodeons and then added Cottage Organs to its repertoire. His career included four Visiting Fellowships at Cambridge University, and Yale University.ĭr. The Estey company was founded by Jacob Estey a few years he bought a share of and later took over a melodeon maker in the 1850s. He holds degrees from Boston University, The New England Conservatory of Music, and his Doctorate from L’Université de Montréal. Each month we showcase a different talented organist visiting from around the Northeast!Ī fifty-year faculty member at Saint Michael’s College, the 91 year old is Professor Emeritus of Fine Arts. Join us every first Wednesday for a unique program of organ music performed on our Historic Estey pipe organ.