Organ Works - Merrill Auditorium, Kotzschmar Memorial Organ

Job #: C500

Location: Portland ME

Organ Type: Pipe

Building Type: Theatre

Date: 2014

Merrill Auditorium is home to one of America's premier concert organs. Originally built in 1912 and named after Hermann Kotzschmar, a 19th century Portland organist, it has grown in that past 100 years from 69 ranks to 102. It has also had 4 different consoles.

The instrument is supported by the group FOKO: Friends of the Kotzschmar Organ, a group who promote the instrument through concerts and fundraising. They selected Foley-Baker to restore this grand instrument in 2012. Besides the usual cleaning and re-leathering, the two-year project included repairing the damage from previous moves and quick fixes that had happened. A whole new control system was provided by Classic Organ Builders.

Scenario:

102 ranks, 6,862 pipes, 5 manuals
8 divisions, Swell, Great, Solo, Orchestral, Antiphonal, Echo Pedal, Percussion
4 independent Crescendo Expressions
2 SFZ programmable on each memory level which may be additive or exclusive
Primary control panel mounted in drawer under left jamb with additional small numeric displays for Memory and Registration Sequencer levels for quick reference by organist
6 MIDI stops, fully integrated into combination action and fully configurable, settable to be coupling or non-coupling at discretion of organist.
Build in MIDI Sequencer
254 independent combination memory levels with SFZ configurable on each level
254 step Registration Sequencer independent of memory levels with dedicated Next & Last pistons
Traps, Train Whistle, Fire Gong, Door Bell etc
Manual Transfer, All Swells to Swell, All Pistons Next, Pedal Divide, Ventils
Bargraphs for expression shoes
12-step Transposer via UP/DOWN pistons