August 7, 2000
RELEASE ON RECEIPT

OBERLIN, OH--The Oberlin College Conservatory of Music has long been recognized as one of the world's leading centers for organ instruction. That legacy continues with the Finney Organ Project.

The Opus 116 symphonic organ, created by acclaimed organ designer and builder, C.B. Fisk, Inc. of Gloucester, Mass., arrives in Oberlin today. The organ was assembled almost in its entirety in C. B. Fisk's shop, then disassembled so that no individual components were larger than the doorways through which they pass. Pipes were then wrapped individually and packed in wooden crates for transit to Oberlin. Re-assembly of the organ by a crew from Fisk should be completed by the end of August.

When Opus 116 is structurally finished, the voicing process will begin--each of the 3,951 pipes must be tonally regulated for the optimum sound and speech characteristics in Finney Chapel. A host of adjustments are involved, including determining the appropriate wind pressure, the positioning of the languid at the mouth of the pipe and determining the cut-up or height of the pipe mouth. This process is expected to take teams of voicers (normally two at a time) approximately 10 months to complete.

The organ will be heard in public performance for the first time in inaugural events tentatively scheduled for late September 2001.

"Oberlin boasts a long and distinguished history in organ performance and education," says professor of organ and former dean of the Conservatory David Boe. "The new Fisk organ, Opus 116, will become the capstone of a superb collection of instruments designed and built to reflect as closely as possible the most important of the historic organ building traditions."

"Opus 116 will be ideally suited for Romantic and Contemporary music in Finney Chapel, Oberlin's primary symphonic hall," says Haskell Thomson, professor of organ and director of the division of keyboard studies. "As a symphonic organ, Opus 116 is characterized by a virtual rainbow of tone colors, with a dynamic range extending from the softest flutes and strings, to the most powerful foundations and reeds; an instrument capable of making a crescendo from the most ethereal pianissimo to a thundering fortissimo."

Work towards setting the stage for Opus 116's arrival began last summer, with the dismantling in Finney Chapel of the organ that had served the Oberlin community for 85 years--an instrument designed and built by E.M. Skinner in 1914 and extensively rebuilt by the firm Aeolian-Skinner in the early 1950s. In June 1999, that organ was dismantled for renovation and shipping to its new home in Truro Episcopal Church of Fairfax, Virginia.

Funding for Opus 116 at Finney Chapel was made possible, in large measure, by a 1991 bequest in excess of $500,000 from Fort Lauderdale philanthropist Kay Africa. Among other generous gifts are those from Karen Flint ¹64, and the Phoebe Haas Foundation. The Kulas Foundation also has provided considerable support for the organ and the accompanying restoration of Finney Chapel.

Media Contact: Marci Janas 1/9/00 #6 mj