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Boe's Holtkamp organ breaks out

By Amy Boxrud
October 24, 2007

When the American Guild of Organists (AGO) national convention comes to the Twin Cities next summer, participants will be meeting in churches all over the metro area. And while none of the events will actually take place on the St. Olaf campus, all participants will enjoy the sounds of St. Olaf's new Holtkamp organ in the recently renovated Boe Memorial Chapel. During the convention each participant will receive a recording of a collection of newly commissioned pieces by six Minnesota composers that was recorded in the chapel using the college's new state-of-the-art recording equipment.

BoeOrgan
Organist Sarah Kohler and cellist Dale Newton recording in St. Olaf?s Boe Memorial Chapel. The piece they are playing, by Cary John Franklin, was commissioned for the Minnesota Organ Book by the AGO for its convention next summer.
The project is a collaboration between the AGO, which commissioned the works, Augsburg Fortress Publishers, which will produce the project, and St. Olaf, which donated the use of the chapel, organ and recording equipment. While the guild routinely produces a collection of printed music for their conventions, the concept of an accompanying CD is new.

A great opportunity
Jeff O'Donnell, director of broadcast media at St. Olaf, serves on the steering committee for AGO's national convention. As plans for the convention and for the recording developed, he realized that producing the recording at St. Olaf would be a great opportunity. "We have this fantastic new organ and space for recording. I thought this would be a great exchange," says O'Donnell, who served as recording engineer on the project. The recording was done during fall break, when the chapel was vacant, and is the first one made in the newly renovated space for a non-St. Olaf organization.

The college began a scheduled renovation of the chapel after a 2005 lightning strike destroyed the electrical components of the previous organ, plus other electrical systems in the structure. During the process special attention was paid to acoustics for organ, choir and congregational singing. Sixteen remote-controlled microphones were hung in various locations throughout the chapel and microphone pre-amplifiers were installed. A specially designed digital recording studio was added to the back of the chapel. O'Donnell uses this same equipment on a daily basis to enable web streaming of daily chapel services and Sunday worship, plus concerts and special events in the facility.

Contact David Gonnerman at 507-786-3315 or gonnermd@stolaf.edu.