cjh (06/01/82)
In response to your message of Fri May 28 19:26:19 1982:
I'd forgotten the player organ at Covenant. Maybe I wanted to; I sang
a concert there several years ago in which the organ was the best part
of the performance. But it was spectacular, especially doing one of the
FIDELIO overtures.)
The organ at symphony is of course not a tracker, since they haven't
a permanent place for the keyboard. I've sung in front of it a few times
and it does sound good (at least on stage---don't recall hearing it in
the house). The cute thing is that they have at least two consoles; the
second is very small, intended for pieces in which the organ has only
a small part and in which the stage space is needed for other instruments
(e.g. Mahler's 2nd sym. ("Resurrection")).
The organ at MIT isn't just restricted to PHANTOM OF THE OPERA; they've
been doing a different silent film each year for some time. Since PotO
(which I think was the first) they've done Keaton's THE GENERAL, the
original THIEF OF BAGHDAD (with the original score, obtained at ridiculous
difficulty), and a few others. The organ is played by John Kiley, who now
plays mostly at Red Sox games and nightclubs but played for PotO when it
first appeared in Boston. He also has a gaudy traveling theater organ
which he has taken to a couple of SF conventions.