Emma Ledbetter | FāVS News Reporter
Even as church attendance declines nationwide and pipe organs fall silent in many sanctuaries, Spokane has managed to keep the music alive. The city’s community of organists — supported by groups like the American Guild of Organists Spokane Chapter and the Spokane First Nazarene Theatre Organ Society — continues to thrive, drawing audiences to concerts that celebrate both sacred and secular traditions.
80 years of music
For many organists, exposure to the instrument begins in church — because that’s where most organs are, said Joe Schubert, American Guild of Organists Spokane Chapter secretary.
“Growing up, I was always fascinated by what the organist at our church was playing,” Schubert said. “It was a crummy electronic organ, but we had this world-class musician.”
The American Guild of Organists started as a national professional organization of church organists in 1896 but has since broadened to include secular organists. It offers educational opportunities, social events and certificates.
To celebrate its 80th anniversary this year, the Spokane Chapter hosted a masterclass in September with Austrian organist Lukas Hasler. It also hosted a concert earlier this month.
The chapter is in the third year of rebuilding its organ academy, which offers 10 lessons with a professional organist for pianists interested in learning to play the organ, including students as young as grade school. The organ academy stopped during the COVID-19 pandemic, Schubert said.
A ‘bucket list’ instrument
Spokane First Church of the Nazarene owns the area’s only community-accessible theatre organ, a 1914 model made by the Wurlitzer Company and originally installed in Seattle’s Liberty Theatre to accompany silent movies.
The church’s Theatre Organ Society has invested hundreds of volunteer hours and thousands of dollars to restore and maintain the antique instrument, which is three stories tall and has 3,000 pipes.
People have traveled from as far away as Australia to see the instrument as part of their “bucket list,” said Roger Long, Spokane First Nazarene Theatre Organ Society president.
“It’s the best kept secret in Spokane and the northwest,” Long said. “People in our own church just ignore that it’s there.”
The theatre organ, with its ability to replicate a much larger range of sounds than a typical church organ, is challenging to play.
Most church organists cannot or do not want to play a theatre organ, Long said. Because of this, the congregation has not been able to find a new organist since their previous one retired.
The Theatre Organ Society hosts community hymn sings five times a year and professional concerts three times a year, he said.
On Dec. 21 the society will host “Holiday on Pipes,” a Christmas concert and sing-along. It will be at 6 p.m. at the church, 9004 County Homes Blvd.
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