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Venues And Organs (2015)

The following represents the venue and organ information for ORGANIX 15. While ORGANIX has traditionally featured the finest pipe organs for its concert venue selection, this year also includes recent Allen digital organ installations. All the installations are concert and professional level instruments that Glionna Mansell has designed and installed. As pipe organ costs, both for purchasing and maintenance continue to increase at a seemingly exponential scale, alternatives for presenting organ music must be considered and embraced. Without this intellectual exercise, organ repertoire will indeed become extinct. The emotional argument is much more difficult to overcome. There are many who will never give a digital performance a second thought. However, ORGANIX recognizes that digital instruments offer more musicians the opportunity to practice, to engage their creativity, to earn their living, to perform and remarkably, to move with ease between both the digital and pipe milieu. Exploring and presenting ORGANIX concerts in both the pipe and digital realm has become necessary so that awareness to a new generation of organ students and supporters can reach a broader audience, one that is not necessarily in the downtown core. In this Festival Season, there are several opportunities to compare the same repertoire on pipe and digital instruments. While the experience may be different, it will continue to be rewarding for its musicality.

Church of the Holy Trinity

Church of the Holy Trinity

The Church of the Holy Trinity is located at 10 Trinity Square in downtown Toronto. Trinity Square is surrounded by the Eaton Centre on the east side, the Dundas/Bay Parking garage and Canadian Tire store on the north side and office buildings on the west side. Therefore it is difficult to see from the street. You may walk in from Bay Street on the pedestrian pathway just south of the Marriott Hotel or North from Queen Street on the west side of the Eaton Centre.

St. Basil’s Catholic Church

Metropolitan United Church - Toronto

Metropolitan United Church, 56 Queen Street East, two blocks east of Yonge St. in downtown Toronto. It is easily accessible by streetcar or the Queen St. subway station on the Yonge line. Parking is available in the lot on the east side of the church.

Our Lady of Sorrows Church

Our Lady of Sorrows

Our Lady of Sorrows is located at 3055 Bloor Street West, just west of Royal York Road on the south side of Bloor Street. Limited parking available but a “Green P” lot is just north of Bloor Street off Royal York Road. If taking the subway, there is a Royal York stop and a few minute walk on Bloor Street.

St. Basil’s Catholic Church

St. Basil’s U of T

There is no church parking. The best solution for this venue is to walk, take a cab or TTC getting off the subway line at Bay Street and taking the bus south to St. Joseph Street.

 

St. Clement’s Anglican - Toronto

St Clement’s organ was built in 1928 by Casavant Freres Ltee, of St Hyacinthe, Quebec. The Great, Swell and Pedal divisions were installed in chambers above the right side of the chancel; and a Choir division was installed in the gallery. In 1965, the gallery part of the organ was removed and replaced by a cantilevered Positiv division. This increased the tonal resources of the instrument and generally brightened the full ensemble. In 1973 a new Casavant console replaced the worn-out original.

 

St. Cuthbert’s Anglican - Oakville

St. Cuthbert’s has the first installation in Canada of Allen’s newly designed 58-stop three manual organ. This instrument enables the organist unprecedented creative flexibility in accessing a complete palette of tonal colours and pipe-organ sound. With 38 speaker cabinets, 18 audio channels distributed through a MAIN organ (Chancel), an antiphonal (Gallery), enChamade (Gallery) and Choir Ancillary (Nave) divisions, this organ presents exceptional clarity of every musical nuance.

 

St. George Anglican Cathedral - Kingston

In the late 1920’s the Woodstock Organ Company provided St. George’s Cathedral with a three manual organ on which today’s instrument is based.

Dr. George Maybee initiated a massive rebuilding project, completed in 1963. Thirty-two new ranks were installed along with a new console closely resembling that of Westminster Abbey. The British firm of Hill, Norman and Beard was chosen to complete the work.

 

St. Patrick’s Catholic Church - Mississauga

The organ at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Mississauga, is a custom Glionna Mansell – Allen Heritage Edition H-III350D. This Heritage organ is based on the Allen Renaissance Quantum Q350D architecture and is a 50 stop three-manual performance instrument with 20 audio channels distributed through a MAIN, and a SWELL antiphonal all designed to exhibit true pipe organ character and sound. The custom pipe façade covers a very practical sound chamber that serves to blend sound before entering the nave of the church. The Antiphonal is located in the highly resonate light wells on the east side of the church.

 

Timothy Eaton Memorial Church - Toronto

In 1914, Casavant Frères of St-Hyacinthe, Quebec installed a French-styled 86-stop 4-manual instrument in the north west transept of the cruciform church at the gallery level to the east of the choir. In response to complaints about this location from congregation, choir and organist the architect consulted noted American organ builder E.M. Skinner, who found the “workmanship fine and first class – but the organ did not sound right.” During early revisions the organ took on several American ingluences, including several voicings and stops in the tradition of Hope-Jones.

 

Lawrence Park Community Church

Lawrence Park Community Church
2180 Bayview Avenue
Toronto, Ontario

Casavant Frères Organ, Opus 3768 (1998)
Electro-pneumatic, Electronic Controls
Thee Manual plus Pedal Division, 3027 Pipes, 57 Stops