AHIGH NOTE

Pipe Organ Instrumental to St. Barnabas

BY JUDY D. PANSULLO

PHOTO BY DINAH SATTERWHITE

The unmistakable, powerful, rousing sound of the storied pipe organ has played an inspirational role throughout the centuries. Today, the instrument’s timbres still bring people to their feet, whether singing in a house of worship or cheering their team at a baseball game.

At St. Barnabas Episcopal Church on Bainbridge, the pipe organ is a key voice in worship services and also acts as a focal point of church architecture. As Mozart said: “To my eyes and ears the organ will ever be the King of Instruments.”

When Paul Roy arrived at St. Barnabas in 1991 as the new director of music, the church used a World War II-era organ. “It was tonally and visually undistinguished and had a limited tonal palette to play the organ repertoire to support congregational singing,” he said. It was important to both Roy and parishioners that the organ be able to accompany the choir and congregation and do justice to the great organ composers, such as Bach.

Roy knew he needed to gain the trust of the parish before proposing the purchase of a new organ and allow time for the process to unfold. Eventually, an organ search committee was formed—professional musicians, choir members and architects among others—who studied organ building and design for a year before pinpointing the kind of instrument that would best serve their needs.

The committee then began a quest to find the right builder to design the organ. They visited Oregon, Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia before settling on Bond Organ Builders in Portland. A St. Barnabas member seeded the purchase by donating $300,000 in 2004. The church’s fundraising committee then raised the balance to meet the organ‘s $480,000 price.

The building of the Opus 33 began in 2006 and took about a year to complete.

It was then dismantled and the components loaded onto a Mayflower moving van to begin its journey to St. Barnabas. When the pieces arrived, the installation crew and volunteer parishioners gingerly carried the parts from the van into the sanctuary. “It was very delicate; it was like handling a baby,” Roy said.

St. Barnabas’ old organ was given to a church in California.

The Opus 33’s gothic design complements the architecture of the church, and its cherry wood blends with the church’s brick interior.

Every effort was made in the design and construction of the organ to accentuate the sound and beauty of the great choral literature and hymns of the Anglican tradition. “The heavenly instrument at St. Barnabas, played so beautifully by Roy, is at the very center of our worship on the island,” said Michael Ditmore, a member of the St. Barnabas vestry. The church leadership felt strongly that the organ should be used both as a tool of evangelization and to further the arts on Bainbridge Island and the wider community.

Roy said the journey to design, build and install St. Barnabas’ organ could only have been accomplished by the trust, knowledge and ownership of the entire congregation.

Pat Speidel, a member of the choir, explained that she grew up on the East Coast, “blissed out” on pipe organ music in huge city churches. “The heart reverberation when Paul launches into Bach on our beautiful church organ spells home to me.”