Russell & Co._St. Pius X Church

In 1984, William T. Van Pelt, then the executive director of the Organ Historical Society, wrote in The Tracker: Concomitant to the popularity of photography at the end of the nineteenth century was the blossoming of picture postcards that fortuitously embraced organs and church interiors among a wide range of subjects. Cards provide the examples we need to study architectonics and the visual evolution of organs, as well as traits of contemporary builders and their instruments. In some cases, a card represents the only remaining record of an organ’s existence.²

Jack Mitchener has been praised for playing that is technically brilliant, yet expressive and poetic. According to The American Organist, “Mitchener brings music to life with his supple rhythmic control, clear phrasing, energy, and sensitivity.” In response to his recording on the historic Salem Tannenberg organ entitled Dulcet Tones, a reviewer for the International Record Review of London asserted: “Superb . . . an impressive and rather moving listening experience.”  

May 21 at 7:30 p.m., Orleans, MA

July 3–15, 2023, in St. Albans, UK