Walt Disney Concert Hall
The organ at Walt Disney Concert Hall
in Los Angeles is Rosales Opus 24
and is a joint project with Glatter-Götz Orgelbau of Owingen,
Germany. The unique facade, a design collaboration between Manuel Rosales and Disney Hall architect Frank O. Gehry, has become an icon of modern
concert hall organ design.
The
2008-09
schedule of events
for this organ includes recitals by Chelsea Chen, Kevin
Bowyer, Dame Gillian Weir, and Naji Hakim, a Halloween silent
film with Clark Wilson, and a Holiday Spectacular with David
Higgs, as well as works for organ and orchestra.
Click for
more on this organ,
including the stoplist, photos, and a full concert schedule. There is also a fascinating
graphic illustration, "Inside the Disney Hall Organ."
|
Hear the 2004
Inaugural Recital
on this organ by Frederick Swann in
the Pipedreams
archives as Program #0820. |
|
Terry Riley at Walt Disney Concert Hall - May 25, 2008
Reviewed by Los Angeles Times Music Critic Mark
Swed
At 4:53 p.m. Sunday, NASA's Phoenix spacecraft landed on
Mars, and two hours later pictures from the dusty red planet
arrived at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to prove it.
But sound doesn't travel as fast as light, so it took a
half-hour longer before we had an indication of
extraterrestrial life stirring. That is when Hurricane Mama
awakened and began to make miraculous music a few miles from
JPL at Walt Disney Concert Hall.
Terry Riley -- a Space Age Prospero dressed in black,
wearing a black skull cap and in striped stocking feet, his
long gray beard flowing -- walked to the organ consol. The
hall was darkened. The wooden pipes were illuminated deep
purple. No longer "French fries," a nickname Riley told the
audience he felt inelegant, the pipes were newly dubbed
"radiant columns of Orfeo." Hurricane Mama is his name for the
Disney organ.
Read the entire article
here. |
Program to Feature Rosales Organ at Mission San José
 The
September 1, 2008 Labor Day program of the San Francisco
Chapter of the American Guild of Organists will focus on
Mexican music, organs, and food, with a presentation by Dr.
Kimberly Marshall that features the Mexican-style instrument
built by Rosales Organ Builders at Mission San José in Fremont CA, one of the "hidden
gems" of the Bay Area.
See complete program details here. Learn more about the
instrument
here. |
Programs in Southern California
The AGO Calendar published for the Los Angeles,
Long Beach, and Orange County AGO chapters lists a wealth of
organ, choral, and other programs. Click here. |
Opus 11: Trinity Cathedral, Portland OR - 20th Anniversary
 The year 2007 marked the 20th anniversary of Rosales
Opus 11 at Trinity Cathedral in Portland, Oregon. The event was
observed by a recital featuring John Scott on October
29. Jonathan Ambrosino writes of this instrument:
It has
been now eighteen years since I first saw that organ. I still have
my handwritten notes and impressions from that visit (three years
before my first laptop!). It was David Junchen who urged me to see
it most of all, and Grahame Davis ... and seemingly countless
others. Sometimes it's difficult to think back to those far more
unyielding times, when its fusing of the supposedly unfusable
reflected the culture as much as the instrument itself. It was a
clear watershed, amplified by so many people understanding that very
fact right from the start.
See
more about this landmark organ, including John Scott's recital program.
Opus 32: First Lutheran Church of Venice CA
A new page has been added to this website for the
organ at First Lutheran Church of Venice, California. The instrument
was a collaboration with Parsons Organ Builders. Click for
more information.
David Britton Memorial Website
A website in memory of Dr. David Britton
(1942-1992), concert organist and recording artist, has been
established by Manuel Rosales. Anyone with material to contribute
for the site may contact Manuel by
email. Visit the site at
DavidBritton.info.
Opus 37: St. Edmund's, San Marino CA
 We are honored to have been chosen to rebuild the
historic Aeolian-Skinner organ at St. Edmund's Episcopal Church in
San Marino, California, in the San Gabriel Valley near Los Angeles.
The 31-rank instrument was designed by Joseph Whiteford, who was
then President and Tonal Director of the Aeolian-Skinner Organ
Company of Boston. It is the firm's Opus 1323 and was dedicated with
a recital by Irene Robertson on April 13, 1958.
The project will include:
-
Complete releathering
-
Addition of 10 ranks including Pedal Open Wood 16’,
Trombone 16', and Great Tromba 8’ on high pressure
-
Revoicing and tonal improvement of the existing
pipework
-
New Swell and Choir shutters for better
sound projection
-
Console refurbishing and enhancement
The Rev. George F. Woodward III is Rector of St. Edmund's,
and the Rev. Rob Fisher is Associate Rector. Robert Packer is Chair of the Organ Committee
and Dr. Thomas Harmon is Project Advisor.
For more about this project and the organ, see the website of
St.
Edmund's Church.
Opus 33: St. Stephen's, Monona WI
The new Rosales
Opus 33 at St. Stephen's Lutheran Church in Monona, Wisconsin,
was played for the first time in services on Christmas Eve 2005.
The dedication recital was played on David Schrader on June 2, 2006. This 29-stop organ with mechanical action is a collaboration
with Parsons Organ Builders of Canandaigua, New York. Click for
more
on this organ, including the stoplist and photos.
Recent Publications
Murray M. Harris and
Organ Building in Los Angeles, 1894-1913 was recently
published by OHS Press. Based on research by the late
David Lennox Smith, the book has been edited by Orpha Ochse with the
collaboration of Manuel Rosales, Kevin Gilchrist, Jim Lewis, and
Jack Bethards. More
Also from OHS Press comes Litterai Organi: Essays
in Honor of Barbara Owen, published in celebration of the
fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Organ Historical
Society. This volume includes an essay by Orpha Ochse entitled
"Manuel Rosales and the Los Angeles Organ Renaissance."
Both of the above publications are available from
the Organ Historical
Society.
|
