Stanwood’s Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church to dedicate its third organ Sunday

Published 5:40 pm Thursday, May 14, 2009

STANWOOD — Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church started out in a half-finished schoolhouse. The church’s original building burned down in 1892 and after services were held for a while in a hardware store, a new place of worship — the one that stands today — was dedicated in 1894.

Throughout the church’s history, there have been three organs. Workers finished installation just two months ago on a replacement — a magnificent 1,572-pipe Balcom &Vaughn beauty with a sound that’s lyrical, bright and pure.

That instrument gets some special treatment this weekend when musician Joseph Adam, resident organist at Seattle’s Benaroya Hall, where he has been performing with the Seattle Symphony for the past six seasons, plays pieces by Bach, Grieg, Vierne and others as part of a dedication concert.

The free organ dedication concert starts at 3 p.m. Sunday at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church, 27201 99th Ave. NW, Stanwood.

Adam, who is also cathedral organist at St. James Cathedral in Seattle and a faculty member at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, chose a variety of organ favorites for the concert, including Bach’s “Prelude &Fugue in G Major,” the “Holberg Suite” by Edvard Grieg and “Carillon de Westminster” by Louis Vierne.

Adam gives frequent recitals at St. James Cathedral, where his programs have included the complete organ works of Maurice ­Durufle and Vierne’s six symphonies.

His growing interest in the French organ symphony prompted him to begin recitals at St. James Cathedral exploring this repertoire.

The 41-year-old Balcom &Vaughn organ was bought used from Bellevue First Presbyterian Church and was installed by Rene Marceau Organ builders of Seattle. That builder took Our ­Saviour’s old organ, which will “go on to have a good life,” said Connie Scafturon, spokeswoman for the church’s organ committee.

“It’s a large organ for our church,” said Scafturon, who also sings alto in the church choir. “And certainly the pipes add. It’s just a greater organ. The sound is richer, that’s a good word, and also instrumentally it has more capability.”

Theresa Goffredo: 425-339-3424, goffredo@heraldnet.com.