Organ Dedication

First Presbyterian

Organ Celebration Events

First Presbyterian Church of York celebrates the completion of the organ renovation and rebuilding project by offering a series of concerts with world-renowned artists.

The greater York community is cordially invited to First Presbyterian Church’s Organ Dedication Celebration concert featuring internationally-renowned organist Diane Bish at the console of the church’s newly renovated Möller-Allen organ. The concert will take place in the church sanctuary on Friday, March 6, 2009, at 7:00 pm.

For additional information, please contact James and/or Melody Scofield, Organ Dedication Celebration publicity contacts
jmbascofield@msn.com

Diane Bish

Diane Bish is one of the most visible and influential classical organists performing today. Her organ performances are hailed as “stunning, virtuoso, fiery, and astonishing.” Miss Bish’s television show, The Joy of Music, serves as a platform for awareness and appreciation of “the king of instruments,” and is broadcast weekly to over 300 million people around the world. (Red Lion television station WGCB-49 broadcasts The Joy of Music each Friday evening at 7:00 pm.) Diane Bish’s longevity as a leading recitalist distinguishes her in the world of music, and her appearance in York is sure to be both exciting and memorable.

First Presbyterian Church’s newly renovated organ

The eighty-seven rank Möller-Allen organ that Miss Bish will be playing at First Presbyterian Church is the result of a massive, twenty-month renovation project, coordinated and contracted by the Church Organ Division of Menchey Music. The new organ represents an unprecedented marriage of the centuries-old tradition of pipe organ building with today's digital sampling technology. The existent 1967 Möller pipe organ was enhanced and reworked with cutting-edge digital technology, and the console was replaced with a reliable, state-of-the-art Allen four manual Heritage custom design. The new console interfaces with a powerful twenty-six channel custom built audio system that provides a broader range of sound in order to fully engage the acoustic potential of the church’s sanctuary.

The renovated organ is a flexible instrument which sings with a clear, articulate voice essential for serving all of the varied needs of the musical life of the church and for communicating the great body of organ literature. The enhanced instrument fully engages the sanctuary, surrounding congregants with a warm, rich, and unforced sound. While the use of digital voices in pipe organs is not a new practice, this organ is unique in that organbuilder, Burton K. Tidwell LLC., has tailored every detail of its design and execution specifically for First Presbyterian Church’s historic sanctuary.

First Presbyterian Church of York:

The congregation of the First Presbyterian Church of York has a very real sense of history, beginning with a small informal group that obtained a deed of land from the grandsons of William Penn in 1785 to establish a permanent site for “a house of religious worship and burial ground.” The property deeded at that time is the site of our present church. Colonel Joseph Smith, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, is buried in our historic churchyard. For more than two centuries, the steeple of First Presbyterian Church has been a welcoming landmark within the city of York. First Presbyterian Church of York is located at 225 E. Market Street, York, PA. For ticket information and directions, please contact the church at (717) 843-8041.

Diane Bish’s performance on March 6^th is the first of four special concerts being planned in celebration of First Presbyterian’s renovated organ. On Saturday, April 18^th, “Pavarotti of the Organ” Carlo Curley will perform as part of the church’s Abendmusik concert series. This fall, Abendmusik will offer a brass-and-organ program featuring the ever-popular Harmonic Brass of Munich, Germany, and the organ celebration series will culminate on November 7, 2009, with a much-anticipated performance by the organbuilder himself, Burton K. Tidwell.