Organ

History

Greene Memorial United Methodist Church was founded in 1859 and the present Gothic stone church erected in 1892. The first pipe organ was a two-manual, mechanical action instrument of 15 stops, thought to have been the work of a Virginia builder and installed in 1903.

The present organ was built in 1926 by the E. M. Skinner Organ Co. of Boston. It is Skinner’s opus #577. In 1960 and 1980 changes and additions were made by M.P. Moller, Hagerstown, Maryland. A new, four-manual console was built by the Hagerstown Organ Co. in 1993. The couplers, drawknobs, toe studs and levers were made by David Harris, Whittier, California. The console exterior cabinet is rift-sawn oak and the interior mahogany. Manual keys are bone with ebony sharps and pedal keys are maple with walnut sharps.

A comprehensive MIDI control center operates the performance reproducing system. There is no unification of any manual stops. The Pedal is augmented. The console, which is solid state throughout, can be raised on its hydraulic lift and moved, on its rolling platform, to the center of the chancel where it is fully visible for recitals.

It was the first movable organ console in Roanoke. The organ’s actions, tremulants, switching systems and wiffletree engines are the original electro-pneumatic. The Choir Fesitval Trumpet is voiced on 8″ wind pressure. The Solo Tuba uses Willis style shallots and is voiced on 16″ wind pressure. Winding for the organ is supplied by the original 1926 blower made by the Spencer Turbine Co. of Hartford, Connecticut, plus an addtional step-up blower to supply the high pressure wind for the Solo and Choir reeds.

Specifications

Artists

Internationally acclaimed artists have played concerts on the organ of Greene Memorial Church. This is a partial list along with their positions at the time of their appearance here.

T. Tertius Noble- British-American organist of St. Thomas Episcopal Church, New York
E. Power Biggs – Acclaimed concert and recording artist
Marie-Claire Alain – French virtuoso organist and recording artist
Frederick Swann – The Riverside Church, New York City
Martin Neary – Winchester Cathedral, England
John Weaver – Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church, New York City and The Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia
George Markey – Church of St. Andrew and Holy Communion & Congregation Oheb Shalom, South Orange, New Jersey
John Scott – St. Paul’s Cathedral, London
William Whitehead – The Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, New York City
Simon Preston – Westminster Abbey, London
David Higgs – St. Marks Episcopal Church, Berkeley, California
Thomas Trotter – Organist to the City of Birmingham, England; St. Margaret’s Church, Westminster, London
Joan Lippincott – Head of the Organ Department, Westminster Choir College, Princeton, New Jersey
John Scott Whiteley – York Minster Cathedral, England
Andrew Lumsden – Lichfield Cathedral, England
Richard Elliott – The Mormon Tabernacle, Salt Lake City
Dorothy Papadakos – Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York City
David Liddle – St. Barnabas, Pimlico, London & the Alexandra Palace, London
Diane Bish – Internationally celebrated organist and host of the television series, The Joy of Music
Olivier Latry – Cathedral of Notre-Dame, Paris
David Briggs – Gloucester Cathedral, England
Cherry Rhodes……American virtuoso organist and recording artist
Kent Tritle…The Church of St. Ignatius Loyola & New York Philharmonic organist
Cameron Carpenter……. Virtuoso organist, improviser, composer
Clive Driskill-Smith………Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, England
Rupert Gough…………Wells Cathedral, England
Peter Richard Conte……..The Wanamaker Organ, Philadelphia