Progressive Organ Concert: Saturday, November 18– SOLD OUT

Three of Huntingdon’s historic churches will welcome music lovers for a progressive organ concert on the afternoon of Saturday, November 18. The churches — the Abbey Church, First Baptist, and St. John’s Episcopal— all have historic instruments from the early 20th century. After the final performance, St. James Lutheran Church will host a reception.

A fourth church, Huntingdon Presbyterian, may be added if its interior renovations are completed in time.

Performing on all of the instruments will be Aaron Patterson, a graduate student in organ performance at the Juilliard School in New York.

Patterson, who earned his undergraduate degree at the Curtis Institute of Music, has family ties to Altoona and Saxton. Now 23, he was raised in Philadelphia, where he is an assistant organist at Tenth Presbyterian and also on the Wanamaker Organ at Macy’s in downtown Philadelphia, believed to be the largest fully playable instrument in the world.

The organs he’ll be playing in Huntingdon are unusual in that they are all so well preserved, Patterson says. Two are comparatively small instruments at First Baptist and St. John’s — that were built by the same Erie, Pa., company, B.Felgemaker, in 1902 and 1911, respectively. They are both tracker organs, meaning the keys are connected to the pipes by thin strips of wood or wire. “The Felgemaker organs are absolutely stunning,” says Patterson. “There’s so much attention to detail in every pipe.”

The organ at the Abbey Church, built about 1927 by the Moller Pipe Organ Company in Hagerstown, Md., is much larger. But unlike many other organs of its era that have been significantly altered as musical tastes changed, the Abbey organ remains essentially as designed. Organs from its era were becoming more orchestral in their sound, Patterson says “good for 19th-century music,” but to some ears, not crisp enough for music from Baroque composers.

The Presbyterian church has a 1922 Hook & Hastings instrument donated by members of the Blair and Fisher families. It is the largest in the county.

At each venue, the Rev. Gene Tucker will give a brief description of the instrument. Tucker, who retired this summer as pastor of St. John’s, is a former dean of a chapter of the American Guild of Organists.

The concert will begin at 1 p.m. at St. John’s, 212 Penn Street. Patterson will play about half an hour at each church, and attendees will then have half an hour to move to the next venue.

Tickets are $20 each and are available from the Huntingdon County ArtsCouncil, either in person at 313 12th Street or online.

The concert is jointly sponsored by the Huntingdon County Arts Council, HuntingdonLandmarks, and the Huntingdon County Historical Society.