Long before there was Spotify and MIDI controlled instruments, the well-off in the early 1900s installed symphonic organs in their mansions to have music on demand. Controlled from wide punched paper rolls like a player piano on steroids, these beasts featured not just traditional organ pipes but other instruments including percussion sections. The punched paper rolls controlled a computation section built out of electromechanical relays and pneumatic logic.
This rarely heard gem of the Boston music scene will be opened up for tours and a selection of musical content. Please join us to see and hear what will be a truly unique and memorable experience with 100+ year old technology.
Schedule of events:
6:30 p.m.: Photonics Center Building, Room 339. Doors open.
7:00 p.m.–7:45 p.m.: Photonics Center Building, Room 339. Introduction by BU, screening of a short documentary about the organ and its restoration.
7:45 p.m.: Short 10 minute walk from the Photonics building to the Metcalf Ballroom (2nd floor) in the George Sherman Union (GSU)
8:00 p.m. Introduction to the organ and demonstration.
The entire organ is visible from a corridor that runs through the center of it. |
Register by 11/26/2019.