"Despite the nay-sayers, the organ is very much alive
and we're going to keep it that way." With that hopeful remark, Fred Swann
opened the third annual Organ Alive! conference at First Congregational Church
of Los Angeles. Swann started this conference when he assumed the position of
organist at the church three years ago, in response to a request from the
church leaders for more prominence for the organ. The previous year's
conference in January 2000 had been a retrospective of the organ in the 20th
century.
