St. Benedict Cathedralโs organ has hummed the same tune since the 1940s. Soon, singing parishioners will be joined by a new set of pipes.
Upon arriving as the Catholic Diocese of Evansvilleโs director of music nearly 20 years ago, Jeremy Korba realized the churchโs organ was long past its prime.
โAs the liturgies got bigger, we found the organ wasnโt supporting everything we wanted and needed it to do,โ Korba says.
Fundraising was jump-started in 2019 with a nearly $3 million donation from church Deacon David Cook โ who died July 24 at age 84 โ and his wife, Virginia. Renovations of the Lombard-Basilica cathedral also were completed that year, as profiled in March/April 2020 Evansville Living.
Years of research led Korba and St. Benedict to Parsons Pipe Organ Builders of Canandaigua, New York.
The onset of COVID-19 in spring 2020 delayed the process of bringing the refurbished cathedral its new organ. But the wait is nearly over. The instrument โ which consists of a nave and a gallery โ is being installed pipe by pipe, around 4,300 in all.
St. Benedict intends to have the instrument fully assembled and ready to play by the end of October. The Cathedral is beginning to use its resources as they are available.
For parishioners hearing the organ, โit should be thrilling,โ says Korba, who adds that heโs honored to be the organist. โThey will be able to feel some of the big pipes. It can be loud, but part of the magic of the tonal design is in the depth of color available to the organ. It will have beautiful, soft strings to powerful reeds and everything in between. The organ will be equally at home supporting the Cathedral liturgies as well as concertizing.โ
ST. BENEDICT CATHEDRAL
