January 2020

Event Report – Virtual Organs

Chapter News, Concerts & Recitals / By

On Saturday, 18 January 2020, thirty members and friends of the Salt Lake Chapter of the AGO (SLCAGO) met at the home of Dr. Clay Christiansen to learn about Virtual Organs. Dr. Christiansen has a very nice virtual organ installed in his home, the Christiansen III-109 Home Virtual Organ by R. M. Ballantyne Organs, Opus 33. The spec sheet is below.

CHRISTIANSEN-HOME-VIRTUAL-PIPE-ORGAN-BY-R-M-BALLANTYNE_190410Download

The event opened with Dr. Christiansen performing a brief recital on the organ. He played his own composition, Suite, described as follows:

The Suite is dedicated to Diane on the occasion of our 50th   Wedding Anniversary on 12 July 2018.  It opens with a Tribute in the form of a trumpet fanfare.  The playful Fugue mimics children at play, while A Mother’s Lullaby is sung while her babe is gently rocked to sleep.  The mischievously frolicking Scherzetto brings us back to energetic children while the final Exaltation reflects the sublime joy brought by a devoted wife and mother to her husband and family.  The Suite is published by MorningStar Music Publishers.

–Dr. Clay Christiansen

Following his recital, Charles Raasch, the engineer on this organ project, spoke to the group on the topic of virtual organs: the sampling process, software packages, configuration options, basic setup, and advanced setup. And there were questions a-plenty!

Charles Raasch is an electrical engineer by trade, and in addition to a passion for playing organ music, is involved in developing hardware and software for digital organs, having built several himself. He has sampled many pipe organs that are sold worldwide on the Hauptwerk software platform, which was the basis of this organ installation.  He is employed as an electrical engineer at Spireon in Irvine and is Past Dean of the Orange County AGO chapter. His presentation deck, which includes a great deal of background information, is attached below:

Click to open Charlie’s presentation on Google Docs

Following Charlie’s presentation, attendees were offered the chance to play the organ, “open console” style. About a dozen attendees played a variety of selections, each enjoying having Clay as their own personal registration assistant! “I’ve never sounded so good!” exclaimed several attendees. It was a good lesson in the principle that excellent registration choices can transform even the simplest of arrangements into pure magic. While each played, the rest of the attendees enjoyed chatting about organ playing over treats of cookies and grapes.

The SLCAGO Board wishes to thank Dr. Christiansen and Mr. Raasch for donating their time and talent to make this event such an interesting success!

Bi-annual SLCAGO Elections

Chapter News / By

AGO chapters are required to hold periodic elections of its officers and executive committee. This is our year for our bi-annual elections.

Election Volunteers Needed

In order for us to execute these elections as prescribed in our by-laws, we need three (3) volunteers to serve on a Nominating Committee to submit proposed candidates. The required time is minimal, but critical to the integrity of the process.

Please contact Jan Bigler at gmajam@gmail.com or John Rice at john@slcago if you are willing to help us.

Dean’s Message – January 2020

Chapter News / By

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season.  But the festivities have not ended.

I want to take a minute of your time and promote the Salt Lake Chapter’s PIPES AND POTPOURRI event taking place February 11th, 2020 – the perfect segue between the Christmas/New Year Holidays and Valentine’s Day.  (Sorry, gentlemen, that I brought the subject of Valentine’s Day up a bit early. I am familiar with the sweating spells and  extreme anxiousness that men undergo as that Day approaches – but what a great answer to your question of what to get that special someone for Valentine’s Day – a night out in Ogden at the Salt Lake Chapter’s PIPES AND POTPOURRI event!!!!!!)  This event will feature a night out with Organ Masters Richard Elliott and Mike Ohman and will be held in two locations – the Peery Egyptian Theater in Ogden and the Ogden Tabernacle. You can’t go wrong with taking your sweet someone to this event.  Mike Ohman will be featured on the Peery Egyptian Theater’s Wurlitzer Theater Organ (including a short silent film). We will then reconvene at the Ogden Tabernacle where Richard Elliott will wow and amaze as he always does on the refurbished H. Ronald Poll & Associates Opus 34, (3 Manuals, 51 Ranks).  Ticket prices are $8.00 per person, but members of the Salt Lake Chapter and the Utah County Chapter will be admitted free of charge.  

Please calendar this event and plan on joining us for an exceptional program provided to you in thanks for being a member of the American Guild of Organists and supporting your local Chapter.

Your Dean, John K. Rice. 

And remember:  YOU’RE NOT A PROPER ORGANIST UNTIL your organ shoes look like they’ve been in a tussle with an enthusiastic puppy and lost.