St. Stephens Rejoices Over New Organ

The sounds of music fill the sanctuary at as never before, thanks to the generosity of two anonymous parishioners.

Pamela Hickey, church music director and organist, has spent the past couple months learning all the bells and whistles – literally and figuratively – that are featured on the Rodgers Allegiant 698 organ.

The digital console organ was purchased earlier this summer at a cost of nearly $60,000, including the trade-in of St. Stephen’s former Rodgers analog organ. 

A dedication concert showcasing the new organ will be performed at 3 p.m. Oct. 22 by renowned organist Rodney L. Barbour of Cincinnati.

During the two years she has been music director, Hickey was approached by two different philanthropic church members about a year apart. On their own, neither donor’s generous offer was enough to buy the right organ for St. Stephen’s. The combination of both gifts enabled the church to replace its outdated instrument.

Hickey said the two donors not only share an appreciation of organ worship music, but also a “love of this church.”

“They gave these gifts from their hearts for the church – and for the church members,” Hickey said. “They each have a really strong interest in seeing St. Stephen’s grow and thrive. They’re both so strong in their faith and their love of the church.”

The new digital organ replaces an analog Rodgers model that was dedicated in January 1985.

“It was top-of-the-line for its day, but a lot has changed technologically since the ‘80s,” she explained. “We now have digital sound, smaller and smaller computers and many other new features.”

The Rodgers company website describes its Allegiant line as “moderately priced, highly flexible classical organs.” Model 698 is the company’s best-selling drawknob console featuring “184 organ stops, 50 internal orchestral sounds and a complete combination action with 30 general and divisional pistons.”

The three-keyboard instrument also offers the flexibility of four voice choices for every stop.

What does that all mean? That St. Stephen’s new organ came with a huge learning curve for Hickey, thanks to its abundance of features.

“Almost two months later I’m still working on learning everything about it. There was a lot of pressure that first Sunday,” the music director said with a laugh.

The Allegiant 698 has a memory bank loaded with more than 2,000 recorded sounds, enabling Hickey to seemingly perform along with an entire orchestra. There are even some odd sounds, like car crashes and sirens, that likely will never play a role in worship services.

“The memory banks have an array of instruments, some of which transfer digitally better than others ... The reeds and wind instruments recorded beautifully,” she said.

The Oregon-based Rodgers, founded in 1958, is part of the world-famous music leader Roland Corp. It’s because of that association that Rodgers organs feature “the only digital generation system that provides the natural dimensional presence of sound found in a pipe organ.”

Perhaps that’s why Hickey has been receiving such positive feedback on the new organ from parishioners.

“People are happy and smiling. I’ve had people say they were crying (when they first heard it). They’re really proud of it,” she said.

And church members are hearing their new organ under the best circumstances, as the 51-year-old church also invested in an external surround-sound speaker system.

“It took a week for the company to install it because of the complicated speaker system,” Hickey said.  “A lot of new wiring was needed, then they had to custom-match the (organ) voices to fit the room.”

Hickey is hopeful for a large turnout for the free Oct. 22 dedication concert to be performed by Barber.  “This organ is a big deal that’s the result of two really significant gifts,” she said.