The Gothic Chapel Organ

The Gothic Chapel Organ is a gift from Crown Hill Foundation board member Marianne Williams Tobias — a mover and shaker in the city’s classical music scene. In addition to serving as the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra’s resident program annotator, she performs piano regularly alongside members of the ISO. The organ is a memorial to her parents, Russell and Mary Williams.

Tom Magee, the owner of Classic Organs in Indianapolis, designed the organ, and Rodgers Instruments of Hillsboro, Oregon handled its construction. It uses a combination of pipe and digital sounds, which were recorded from historic American organs including Hook and Hastings, which was the most prominent pipe organ builder of the 19^th century.

The digital sounds add an equivalent of another 2,545 pipes! A pipe organ of that size would fill the entire chapel. That’s why the combination of pipes and digital is a perfect fit for our space.