Ambitious Festival Celebrates Organ’s History, A to Z

Times have been tough for royalty in the media, as just about any member of the House of Windsor could attest. But the spin should be all positive for the King of Instruments with the opening of the far-reaching and far-flung “FestivalOrgan” at UCLA’s Fowler Museum of Cultural History and other venues this weekend.

The core component of the 3 1/2-month-long festival is a hands-on museum exhibition, but the project also includes photographs of L.A. organs in a show called “Pulling Out the Stops,” lectures, demonstrations, tours and more than 30 recitals and other music programs all over the Southland.

“This is going to fascinate the public with the mystique of the organ,” says Thomas Harmon, the UCLA professor and university organist who is the festival coordinator in Los Angeles. For example, he says, the museum exhibition (created by the Westfield Center, a nonprofit Massachusetts organization devoted to the study of keyboard instruments), “is very interactive, with organ pipes of many sizes and shapes that can be activated by viewers in different ways, electronically and manually. It shows the craft of organ building, along with a 24-foot timeline of the organ’s history.”

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According to Lynn Edwards, creator of the project at the Westfield Center, the program objectives are threefold. “We wanted to offer the public an opportunity to see inside an organ,” she says, “and to understand its history, and we wanted to remind people of the organ as an architectural element. To bring this before the largest possible audience, [we’re taking it] to cities where there is an important organ culture, and Los Angeles certainly qualifies.”

Anyone doubting that L.A. is an organ town should study the “FestivalOrgan” calendar of events. The Southland offers everything from Mighty Wurlitzer-accompanied silent films at Pasadena City College (March 15) to the world premiere of a new organ concerto by Los Angeles composer and Pacific Serenades impresario Mark Carlson at the First United Methodist Church of Santa Monica (June 8).

All three of the festival objectives--and more--are covered by the multitude of events. Those interested in the inner workings of this most technologically complex of instruments can attend a family workshop at the Fowler, where participants will build their own panpipes, or take a tour of Los Angeles organ builder Manuel Rosales’ workshop. To learn about the variety of organ architecture, they can try the “organ crawl,” a bus trek to six major pipe organs along the Wilshire corridor.

And the organ’s musical history will be highlighted in a wide array of performance options. Bach will get a birthday bash in Garden Grove, “Peter and the Wolf” has been transcribed for organ for a family concert in Santa Monica and jazz gets its due, too. Noted composer-educator Gunther Schuller will discuss the organ in jazz on the “Organ Conversations” lecture series May 4, followed by a free concert at Veterans Wadsworth Theater featuring Jimmy Smith and his jazz trio.

For an initial historical run-through, the first of three “Discovery Concerts” takes place today at the Westwood United Methodist Church. Moderated by Michael Barone (host of Public Radio International’s “Pipedreams”), the discussion and demonstration focuses on “Organ Music Through the Ages and How It Moves Us.”

Supported in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, “FestivalOrgan” opened in Nashville, Tenn., in December, 1995, and already has toured to Massachusetts, Utah and Virginia. From Los Angeles it travels to Buffalo, Boston and St. Paul. Harmon has been able to finance the exhibition here with money from the Ahmanson Foundation originally intended for organ programming in UCLA’s Royce Hall, dormant since the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

What excites Harmon most about the festival is the chance to create new fans for an instrument whose history traces back to the 6th century BC.

“The Fowler buses in schoolchildren,” he says happily. “Every day, Tuesday through Friday, 75 of them will be viewing the exhibition, then walking up to the organ studio in Schoenberg Hall, where I and three of my graduate students will give them a half-hour organ demonstration. We figure that by the time the exhibition closes, that will be over 3,000 potential young organists.”

* “FestivalOrgan: King of Instruments,” Fowler Museum, UCLA, through May 18. Wed.-Sun, 12-5 p.m.; Thursday, 12-8 p.m., $1-$5, free Thursdays. (310) 825-4361. “Of Sound and Spirit: Organ Music Through the Ages and How It Moves Us,” today, 4 p.m., Westwood United Methodist Church, 10497 Wilshire Blvd. (310) 474-4511. Calendar of other “FestivalOrgan” events available at the Fowler Museum or by calling (310) 825-4288.