Issue date: 8/2/07 Section: NEWS

Media Credit: Justin Tennison The stage sits covered in parts of the organ as it is assembled Tuesday afternoon in Winspear Hall, located in the Murchison Performing Arts Center. [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: Courtesy Photo Anastasia Markina [Click to enlarge]

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Media Credit: Justin Tennison A worker hands down a board that needs adjustment before it can be used. [Click to enlarge]

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Media Credit: Justin Tennison Pieces of the complex instrument lay scattered on the stage. [Click to enlarge]

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NT began installation Friday of a $1.5 million organ that will position NT as one of the best-equipped organ programs in the country, said James C. Scott, dean of music.
The organ was donated by Paul Voertman, the owner of Voertman's bookstore, in remembrance of his close friend Richard Ardoin.
"It was around 2003 that we received a commitment for the gift that would make the organ possible," Scott said. "We started actively looking at organ builders and making plans. It was about a three year period of time that we would have to wait to actually get the instrument and have it working."
Installation is ahead of schedule, Scott said. Plans are underway to unveil the organ to the public in an inaugural concert in fall 2008, but Scott said he believes the organ could be completed sooner.
"Our projections and planning had us expecting an official inaugural concert in the fall 2008, but the organ should be playable by January, so we may have some preliminary performances this spring," Scott said.
Currently, NT has two major pipe organs, but neither is able to maintain a performance with an orchestra or a large choir.
The new organ will mark the first time NT has ever been able to support such a performance, Scott said.
"This will have a tremendous impact on our students because they will have the opportunity to play and hear music that they haven't been able to in the past," said Lenora McCroskey, head of the organ department.
The organ will be in the Murchison Performing Arts Center, and McCroskey said he is confident that the acoustics will make for a superior sound.
"This instrument has color, and the placement in the room is acoustically friendly," McCroskey said. "I have a builder friend that said the most important stop on the organ is the acoustics, and we've got that now."
In October of 2008, a conference will be held discussing the various ways for the instrument to be used, McCroskey said. The organ will be useful to the community as well as NT, he said.
"It will be used outside of North Texas with performing groups that use the hall along with the American Guild of Organists," McCroskey said. "It is a definite benefit to the community."
Because of Voertman's donation, the organ will be able to tackle more types of music than the organs NT currently has on campus, McCroskey said.
"You couldn't cover the literature you wanted to cover if the instrument is smaller," McCroskey said. "What's important to it is that the organ is built to play of a lot of the literature. It's not just a specialty instrument for 19th century German music."

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