Finney Chapel gets face lift

The audience at the President's Opening Convocation two weeks ago may have noticed some changes in Finney Chapel. The stage seemed cavernous, larger and emptier than before. And the familiar, imposing wall of organ pipes had disappeared over the summer.

The chapel will continue to change over the next year and a half. The purpose of the work in Finney is to install a new organ and to make the chapel more suitable for performances and speeches.

The renovations began in June with the removal of the old organ, which was dismantled and sent to a builder in Indiana. Eventually, it will be installed in a Fairfax, Virginia church.

Renovation of the stage area began immediately after the organ was removed. According to David Boe, professor of organ and former dean of the Conservatory, the construction included building a new wall at the back of the stage, extending the stage platform, and putting up paneling on the side walls of the stage area. A new organ will be installed in front of the wall and will extend out a little far ther than the proscenium arch. Much of the fa�ade and case-work of the old organ has been kept and will be reinstalled when the new organ arrives next summer.

Although the stage was moved forward, requiring the removal of the first three rows of seats, its overall area will be the same as it was before the renovations. "The square footage of the stage will remain the same, but it will be more usable," Boe said. The improvements include the removal of the old organ console, better wheel-chair access, and new doors to the stage.

Although the chapel is supposed to be available for events this year, last Saturday's Kartik Seshadri concert had to be moved to Warner Concert Hall because of the renovations. That phase of construction is nearly complete, and Boe does not foresee any more interruptions in Finney's concert schedule. "The contractor finishes this week and there are concerts scheduled for next week," he said.

Finney will remain organ-less for the rest of the academic year. "The building has been prepared for the arrival of the new organ, but that won't occur until Commencement this year," Boe said.

During the summer of 2000, workers will install the new instrument, a symphonic organ designed and built by C.B. Fisk, Inc. of Gloucester, Massachusetts.

Symphonic organs have a wide range of tone colors and greater power than the old organ, and are better suited to playing with an orchestra. In addition, the chapel's acoustics will be improved with the help of Dana Kirkegaard, an acoustic engineer.

The installation of the organ will take most of the summer, and will be followed by several months of voicing. Voicing involves tuning the organ and adjusting it to Finney's acoustics, and will be done by two Fisk employees.

According to Boe, the project's planners scheduled most of the work for the summer in order to maintain the regular use of the building. "There should be no problems this year and only minor problems next year, mainly with working around people's schedules," Boe said. There will not be any organ concerts in Finney next fall term, although Boe said some concerts were possible in the spring.

So far, the project has remained on budget and on schedule, according to Boe. "The renovation work was scheduled down to the very day, and proceeded very smoothly," he said. Most of the funding for the project, which has a budget of $2.3 million, came from several gifts. The largest was a donation of over $500,000 in the will of a Florida woman, Kay Africa, who had no affiliation with Oberlin but hoped to contribute to the construction of a well-crafted organ to fit the school's reputation for world-class musical education.

Finney Chapel revitalized: Renovations to Finney will be complete after the installation of the new organ. (photo by Monica Schneider)