In Saturday’s (4/2) Gazette (Montreal), Wah Keung Chan writes, “Internationally renowned Quebec organ builder Casavant Frères has won the contract to build the organ in Adresse symphonique, the new hall of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. A committee consisting of organists John Grew, Patrick Wedd, Jacques Boucher and French virtuoso Olivier Latry, former McGill music dean Don McLean, philanthropist and organ enthusiast Noël Spinelli and maestro Kent Nagano made the decision in January. The organ will cost $3.5 million, said MSO general director Madeleine Careau, who also indicated that it will be installed by the 2013-2014 season, although the exact schedule is still up in the air. … The organ project was not part of the current concert hall construction funded by the Quebec government. Consequently, according to Careau, the MSO will pay for the organ through its fundraising. ‘It’s going well,’ she said. … Known for its organs built since 1879, including the grand organ at the Notre Dame Basilica (four manuals, 82 stops), Casavant Frères is a world leader in modern mechanical organ building. One of its current projects is the four-manual, 79-stop, 102-rank organ for the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in Kansas City.”
Posted April 4, 2011
