Buzard Pipe Organ Builders, Champaign, Illinois; Pilgrim Lutheran Church, Carmel, Indiana, Opus 45, 2017; Central United Methodist Church, Fayetteville, Arkansas, Opus 46, 2018–2019
Opus 45
“What have you done here!?,” asked Todd Wilson as he leapt off the organ bench to greet me the day before Opus 45’s dedication. Hoping this was a friendly question, I asked to what exactly he was referring. “This organ just about plays itself!” Yes, it was a very friendly question and a complimentary one—even better.
The Temple Church, London, built by the Knights Templar in the late twelfth century, is set in the heart of the Inner and Middle Temple Inns of Court between Fleet Street and Embankment. The building itself comprises two distinct sections: the Round Church—a replica of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, which, according to tradition, was built over two of Christianity’s holiest places: Calvary and the empty tomb—and a rectangular church, built half a century later, which now acts as the chancel and sanctuary.