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[ Back to index of April articles ] Musical renovations
When music director Graham Elliott arrived at St. Paul's, Rock Creek, four years ago, he discovered that the church's organ was on its last gasp. "Only about 12 stops worked out of about 40," he said, explaining that over the years, electric action organs gradually decrease in efficiency and can be costly to repair. The organ was also unwieldy, and Elliott - who supervised 621 organs in his previous position with the Diocese of Chelmsford in England - said it was badly positioned in a chapel to the left of the altar. While the organ was not up to par, the church was blessed with excellent acoustics and a "very fine professional choir," Elliott said. St. Paul's was ripe for a musical transformation, he decided. The long process of choosing, building and installing a new organ began in May 2001, when the old organ was taken out of the church and a used electric organ purchased by the vestry as a temporary fix was brought in. After the organ was removed, representatives from nine companies came to the church to study the space and offer their ideas and recommendations for a replacement instrument. In 2002, after much deliberation, St. Paul's commissioned Dobson Pipe Organ Builders Ltd., of Lake City, Iowa, to build the church's new organ, and work began in mid-2003.
"We're actually having a smaller, but I believe more beautiful, better quality organ," Elliott said. "We're going back to basic principles with a new organ with mechanical action. We're building very much in the finest traditions of organs built in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries." For musical and aesthetic purposes, the new organ, which will cost $500,000, will be placed where the altar used to be, at the back of the sanctuary. The altar will be moved forward into the nave and the old organ chamber will be transformed into a chapel. "The building of a new organ has been a catalyst for renovation of the building," Elliott said, remarking that the restoration was long overdue. On a recent weekday, rubble covered the church floor, which has been ripped out as part of the renovation. The stained glass windows were boarded up, and surveyors marked out the position of the new altar with yellow lines in the white dust.
While the renovation is under way, parishioners have been meeting in the Parish Hall for worship, which is just completing a $7 million face lift of its own, Elliott said. The facility now boasts a new kitchen and serving area, a new elevator and restrooms, acoustic ceilings in the main auditorium and renovated meeting rooms, classrooms and offices. Elliott is trying to raise a further $500,000 for an organ for the Parish Hall. "My goal is that [St. Paul's] will be a center for the arts for the whole city and also for teaching," Elliott said. "Music is something that all children can benefit from, and this city, of all the cities I've ever known, needs to have bridges built. I hope in this way we can do our part." Once the church renovation is complete and the dust has died down, the new pipe organ will be installed at St. Paul's. Dust can affect the tuning, Elliott explained, and there must be silence during the installation as the pipes are tested one at a time.
While he hopes the new organ will fill St. Paul's with music for many years to come, Elliott also has a more immediate goal in mind - the second Rock Creek Festival, which is scheduled to take place in June. The festival, which Elliott founded in 2001, is a week-long musical celebration that will feature big band music, chamber music, tunes from the 1940s and the Caribbean, jazz, and if all goes to plan, recitals on the new Dobson pipe organ. "All of it brings people into this place and brings new life into it," he said. Three or four events are planned each day during the festival, which will focus primarily on music but will also include art shows, teas, evening receptions and the like. "It's a kind of unveiling," Elliott said. "I'd describe it as a showcase for all of the new opportunities here." - The Rock Creek Festival is set for June 13-19. For more information or to contribute to the festival or the new organ, contact Elliott at grahamjelliott@aol.com; Mauricio Franco at mauricio.franco@rockcreekparish.org or call 202/726-2080 ext. 11. Contact Lucy Chumbley at lchumbley@edow.org [ Back to index of April articles ]
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