Our Op. 92 for the Blair School of Music of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, is complete. Commissioned for Blair’s Steve and Judy Turner Recital Hall, Op. 92 has 27 ranks on two manuals and pedal and employs suspended mechanical key action and electric stop action. Installation and voicing took about three months. Dedication festivities are scheduled for 7-8 February 2015. Mark Wait is Dean of the Blair School of Music; Carl Smith is Senior Lecturer in Music Theory and Composition, Organ and Harpsichord.

St. Dunstan’s Episcopal Church in Carmel Valley, California, will soon be the home of our Op. 94. The instrument will be placed at the front of the church, which was designed in 1963 by parish member Mel Blevens of Holewinski, Blevens, Fedelem and Lukes Architects. The tonal design, a collaboration between organist Dr. Steven Denmark and Dobson, draws inspiration from 19th century French choir organs. The organ will be completed in the fall of 2015. Check out our page of construction photos.

ia Magazine, a glossy annual about our home state, offers a brief but interesting profile of our company in its 2014 issue.

We are honored to announce the commissioning of our Op. 93 for Saint Thomas Church, New York City. A prominent feature of the 100-stop organ is a new case that houses the Great and Positive divisions. The remainder of the organ is located within the organ chambers and Bertram Goodhue’s glorious case of 1913, which will be fitted with new, speaking façade pipes. The organ will be completed in the first part of 2018. John Scott is Organist and Director of Music; Stephen Buzard and Benjamin Sheen are the Assistant Organists.

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While the construction of new pipe organs is our bread and butter, we also undertake a variety of projects involving older instruments in Iowa and the upper Midwest. You can find a list of completed restoration or rebuilding projects here.

The most significant such project on the books at the moment is the refurbishing and reinstallation of Casavant Op. 3105, originally completed in 1971 for the University of Iowa’s Clapp Recital Hall. Threatened with demolition along with the hall, the organ was eventually given by the demolition contractor to St. Andrew Presbyterian Church in Iowa City, which is building a new sanctuary that will accommodate the organ.

We have further work in Iowa City, involving an organ a century older than Casavant Op. 3105. St. Mary’s Church is home to the largest remaining instrument built by the Moline Organ Co. This three-manual, mechanical action instrument of 1883 has 31 stops, and was restored by Quimby Pipe Organs of Warrensburg, Missouri, in the 1980s. The original bellows was removed years before Quimby’s work, and was replaced with a reservoir of very small size. The parish has engaged us to build a new, larger reservoir, and undertake a variety of restorative repairs.

Another St. Mary’s Church, this one in Pierce City, Missouri, has commissioned us to restore its c. 1890 A.B. Felgemaker, a project that includes the restoration of the original hand-pumped bellows. This 12-rank organ was built for the First Presbyterian Church of Clearfield, Pennsylvania, and was later moved by Felgemaker to Pierce City.

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Five years ago, in celebration of our company’s 35th anniversary, we made an online exhibit of some of Lynn Dobson’s drawings. One of the most highly-regarded case designers of his generation, Dobson has proved to be equally at home in modern or historically-inspired idioms. Lynn A. Dobson: Drawings & Projects presents a selection of work from 1974–2009, and includes unrealized designs as well as built instruments.

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