The dedication of a new organ project at 5 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 23 will enhance the music ministry of First Baptist Church in Columbus. A new installation merges the existing 1960 Moller 32 rank pipe organ with a new Rodgers Infinity Series 484. When complete, the organ will play pipe and digital tonal resources together in an impressive ensemble of sound.
“The project basically marries a digital organ with our pipes,” said FBC Minister of Music Bobby Sanderson.
Timothy Belk of Monroe, North Carolina, will present a concert of organ music at the dedication, which is open to the public. Belk currently serves as organist and church administrator at Shandon Presbyterian Church in Columbia, South Carolina.
A large portion of the cost of the new organ project was funded by an estate bequest in memory of W.K. and Lorene D. Smith.
“Mr. Smith was affectionately known as ‘Kirk’ and was a longtime, faithful choir member at First Baptist,” said Sanderson. Smith’s nephew, George Smith, and his wife, Edna, directed the estate and were instrumental in the church’s decision to build the organ. Should the primary church sanctuary change location in future, the digital organ can be moved, the music minister said.
The combination or hybrid organ is an ambitious and innovative instrument. First Baptist organist Judy Sanderson looks forward to learning all the new instrument is capable of.
“It has a bigger variety of sounds you can get out of it that will really add to the worship experience,” she said. One example of enhancements is her ability now to record organ music that can be played for the congregation later.
“And I’m able to hook up headphones to practice and be the only one who can hear,” she said. “We’re just so grateful and thankful to have this.”
Bobby Sanderson remarked, “We believe this project honors the stewardship of a past generation that made a very significant sacrifice to build a wonderful pipe instrument.” The new project preserves that heritage and will serve the congregation well into the future.
Organ concert
As a North Carolina Emerging Artist Grant recipient, Timothy Belk studied at the Conservatory of Music in Geneva, Switzerland, earning the distinguished Prix de Perfectionnement. His concert tours have taken him across the European continent, England, Bermuda and the eastern United States. As an accompanist, Belk has recorded choral works with the Cantata Singers of Charlotte and was featured at a Manhattan Music Festival in New York City where he performed with the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra and Festival Choir at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine.
An active member of the American Guild of Organists, Belk coordinated the Southeast Regional Convention 2015 in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Installation of the new organ project at First Baptist is being done by Lafayette Music Co. of Lafayette, Louisiana, and is being supervised by David Young, area representative for Rodgers Organs, and Raymond Goodrich, owner of Lafayette Music. The Moller pipes are maintained by Gregory Koziel of Memphis, Tennessee, who is also in charge of the pipe/digital interface.
Jan Swoope is the Lifestyles Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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