June 24, 2024
Saint Luke’s Mother’s Day Organ Concert
Read Post about Saint Luke’s Mother’s Day Organ Concert
The Julia Irene Dennie-Kauffman Casavant Organ, Opus 3875
The Crown Jewel of Helzberg Hall
Sitting approximately 25 feet above the Helzberg Hall stage, the Julia Irene Kauffman Casavant Organ, Opus 3875, is a one-of-a-kind musical masterpiece.
The crown jewel of Helzberg Hall was built specifically for the Kauffman Center by the world-renowned Casavant Frères at their facility in Quebec, Canada. After it was carefully crafted, it was disassembled into 20,000 pieces and transported 1,368 miles to its new home in Kansas City. It took two months of installation and two months of testing to “voice” the organ in Helzberg Hall. Much of this work was done overnight to accommodate the brand-new concert hall’s busy performance schedule.
Named after Kauffman Center founder and Board Chairman Julia Irene Dennie-Kauffman, this one-of-a-kind instrument showcases the incredible sound, elegant beauty and perfect harmony complementing the acoustical and visual design of Helzberg Hall.
By the Numbers
- Four keyboards, 79 stops, 102 ranks
- 5,548 pipes, each one of which had to be individually tuned
- The biggest pipe is 32 feet tall and weighs approximately 960 pounds; the smallest is about the size of a pencil.
- Disassembled into almost 20,000 pieces to transport 1,368 miles from the Casavant-Freres workshop in Quebec to Kansas City
- It required 2 months of installation and
2 months of testing to “voice” the organ in
Helzberg Hall
Creation
Creating the organ required a collaborative effort between Casavant Freres, one of the best known and most respected pipe organ builders in the world, Kauffman Center architect Moshe Safdie, and Helzberg Hall acoustician Yasu Toyota. For example, the unique façade features fully functional wooden pipes hand-built by Casavant Freres artists, and its design echoes the preponderance of wood in Helzberg Hall, designed by Moshe Safdie. In turn, the gorgeous Alaskan cedar, Douglas fir, and oak in the rest of Helzberg Hall were selected by acoustician Yasu Toyota for their specific resonant qualities, making the hall, musicians, and organ work together as one perfectly tuned instrument. The organ was built in the Casavant Freres facility in Quebec, Canada, then disassembled and transported to Kansas City, where it was installed and underwent extensive testing and tuning.
Read an interview with one of the builders, conducted during construction of the organ.
Performance
As a result of this comprehensive design, building, and testing process, the organ is equally capable of performing under the orchestra, soaring above it in organ concertos, accompanying choir or choral groups, and, of course, brilliantly shining in solo organ repertoires. In contrast to the majority of organs in the United States which use an electro-pneumatic action, the instrument’s mechanical, or tracker, action gives the organist nuanced control of the speech of each pipe, much like flute players can control their instruments’ speech with their lips. The mechanical action provides subtle control for the talented organists who make full use of the organ’s considerable powers. It is the crown jewel of Helzberg Hall, a world-class instrument perfectly complementing the world-class facility in which it resides.
Watch, Listen & Learn
Pipe organs, like any other instrument, need to be played regularly and maintained. Grammy-nominated Organ Conservator Jan Kraybill joined the Kauffman Center shortly after the pipe organ’s installation. She maintains the instrument, performs in concerts with the Kansas City Symphony and welcomes guest organists, among other responsibilities.
Pipe Organ Spotify Playlist
Listen here to the Kauffman Center’s Best of: Pipe Organ Spotify Playlist
Performance Videos
Enjoy this series of six short performance videos from Jan Kraybill as she offers a brief synopsis of each work before showcasing the instrument’s powerful voice. As an added resource to accompany these short videos, the Kauffman Center created a Pipe Organ Guide, perfect for teachers and parents. This guide contains fun facts, a glossary of terms, a word search and prompts for classroom discussion.
Pipe Organ Guide
Enjoy this classroom guide that provides an up-close-and-personal look at the Julia Irene Dennie-Kauffman Casavant Organ, Opus 3875. This magnificent instrument is rarely showcased so intimately. This is a perfect tool to share with students in the classroom.
Behind the Curtain at the Kauffman Center with Organ Conservator Jan Kraybill
Part 1
The Kauffman Center’s Julia Irene Dennie-Kauffman Casavant Organ, Opus 3875, is the crown jewel of Helzberg Hall, but few ever have the chance to explore it up close. It’s a magical musical machine, with 5,548 pipes in total. Learn more about it from Grammy-nominated Organ Conservator Jan Kraybill. This two-part installment of our “Behind the Curtain” series begins with Kraybill at the organ console detailing her role and how this beautiful, complex musical instrument works.
Behind the Curtain at the Kauffman Center with Organ Conservator Jan Kraybill
Part 2
The Julia Irene Dennie-Kauffman Casavant Organ, Opus 3875, is unique in a plethora of ways, and it takes someone special to understand the ins and outs of it. That’s where Grammy-nominated Organ Conservator Jan Kraybill comes in. Watch Part II of “Behind the Curtain at the Kauffman Center | A Day in the Life of Organ Conservator Jan Kraybill” as she takes you inside the organ, an experience few have ever had.
