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Arts & Life

Kennedy Center's New Organ No Longer A Pipe Dream

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Credit Kainaz Amaria / NPR

After years of waiting, the Kennedy Center has a new symphonic organ replacing its old Filene organ. The $2 million project will culminate in the organ's debut on Nov. 27. William Neil (left), the National Symphony Orchestra organist, speaks with NSO Assistant Conductor Ankush Kumar Bahl (center) during the organ's test with the orchestra on Oct. 18.

Credit Kainaz Amaria / NPR

Neil plays the organ while organ consultant Jeff Weiler pushes and pulls stops during the test. Building the organ took nearly two years, plus more than three months for installation.

Credit Kainaz Amaria / NPR

The organ console and concert hall as seen through the pipes of the organ chamber set behind the orchestra. The new organ boasts 1,000 more pipes than the previous one — nearly 5,000 pipes in total.

Credit Kainaz Amaria / NPR

Jacquelin Rochette, artistic director of Casavant Bros., gives a tour of the labyrinthine organ chamber. The Montreal-based company was founded in 1879 and specializes in building, renovating and installing pipe organs.

Credit Kainaz Amaria / NPR

Pipes inside the organ chamber range from five-eighths of an inch to 32 feet long, with varying shapes and diameters. Each pipe is meticulously tuned to create the organ's unique tonality.

Credit Kainaz Amaria / NPR

The cluster of pipes in the center are the only ones that remain from the old Filene Great Organ, installed in 1972.

Credit Kainaz Amaria / NPR

Weiler pulls on the "Filene" stop, named after Catherine Filene Shouse, the donor of the first Kennedy Center organ dismantled earlier this year. The wooden console has 103 stops, which are responsible for balancing the treble and bass — the lows and highs of each pipe.

Credit Kainaz Amaria / NPR

Bahl (left) speaks with Neil (center) and Weiler about the organ's test performance with the orchestra on Oct. 18. After six weeks of toning and tuning, the team just needed to make a few final refinements. "We had to tone it down today. We heard too much organ," said Weiler. "It's much easier to make an organ softer than louder, but the power is there."

Credit Kainaz Amaria / NPR

A concert hall organ has to have the right balance — powerful enough to be heard over the orchestra and chorus, but blending in like any another instrument.

Credit Kainaz Amaria / NPR

Rochette stands along a narrow passageway deep inside the organ chamber.

Credit Kainaz Amaria / NPR

After years of waiting, the Kennedy Center has a new symphonic organ replacing its old organ installed in 1972. The $2 million project will culminate in the organ's debut on Nov. 27. William Neil (left), the National Symphony Orchestra organist, speaks with NSO Assistant Conductor Ankush Kumar Bahl (center) during the organ's test with the orchestra on Oct. 18.

Credit Kainaz Amaria/NPR / Kainaz Amaria

The organ console and concert hall seen through the pipes of the organ chamber set behind the orchestra.

Credit Kainaz Amaria / NPR

The new organ was tested with the orchestra on Oct. 18.

Credit Kainaz Amaria / NPR

Organ consultant Jeff Weiler (left) and Casavant artistic director Jacquelin Rochette oversaw the tremendous task of building, installing and voicing the Kennedy Center's new organ.

By Nina Totenberg

Originally published on Wed November 28, 2012 9:16 am

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It was almost spooky. Each night after 11 p.m., when nothing was stirring in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall, two men would enter. One would sit at the organ, playing a key or series of keys, and the other would crawl around inside the organ pipes, 40 feet off the floor. The process went on for months.

It was the all but final phase of installing a new organ for the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. And on Nov. 27, the organ makes its formal debut.

2:30 pm

Tue November 27, 2012

Do Orchestras Really Need Conductors?

Credit James Garrett / New York Daily News via Getty Images

Does This Guy Matter? Conductor Leonard Bernstein during rehearsal with the Cincinnati Symphony at Carnegie Hall in 1977.

By Shankar Vedantam

Originally published on Wed December 5, 2012 10:12 am

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Have you ever wondered whether music conductors actually influence their orchestras?

They seem important. After all, they're standing in the middle of the stage and waving their hands. But the musicians all have scores before them that tell them what to play. If you took the conductor away, could the orchestra manage on its own?

1:33 pm

Tue November 27, 2012

New In Paperback Nov. 26- Dec. 2

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By editor

Fiction and nonfiction releases from Paula McLain, Anita Desai, Joseph Epstein, Rosamond Bernier and Stuart Isacoff.

Monkey See

11:57 am

Tue November 27, 2012

Is That A Budweiser In Your Hand?: Product Placement, Booze, And Denzel Washington

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Credit Robert Zuckerman / Paramount Pictures

Denzel Washington plays Whip Whitaker in Flight.

Credit

A screenshot from the trailer of Flight, showing the fully stocked (some would say too fully stocked) minibar.

By Priska Neely

Originally published on Wed November 28, 2012 11:22 am

At one point in the film Flight, alcoholic pilot William "Whip" Whitaker, played by Denzel Washington, peers into a hotel-room mini-fridge filled with pretty much every type of wine and liquor imaginable.

The shot showcases wine brands Yellow Tail, Barefoot, Sutter Home, plus Amstel Light and Heineken beers — even Red Bull.

This scene raised a lot of questions for me: When has any hotel minibar ever contained so much alcohol? Why has Denzel done three films focusing on transportation –- two trains and now a plane — in as many years?

9:42 am

Tue November 27, 2012

A Critic Atones

Credit Sebastien Bozon / AFP/Getty Images

Lana Del Rey performs in France in July. Her album, Born To Die, came out in January, to mixed reviews.

By Ann Powers

Originally published on Tue November 27, 2012 11:07 am

It's beginning to look a lot like craziness — end-of-the-year craziness, to be precise. Now that Gray Thursday has officially reduced Thanksgiving to carbo-loading for the holiday shopping marathon, many people's winter holidays have become little more than a massive spinout.

5:04 am

Tue November 27, 2012

Running A Comedy Machine: How Chuck Lorre Makes Hits

Credit Sonja Flemming / CBS

Johnny Galecki and Jim Parsons in The Big Bang Theory, one of Chuck Lorre's three popular comedies currently on CBS.

By Linda Holmes

Originally published on Tue November 27, 2012 5:51 pm

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On Tuesday's Morning Edition, NPR's Neda Ulaby has a story about Chuck Lorre, the producer whose name is attached to three of the five highest-rated comedies on American television last season: The Big Bang Theory, Two And A Half Men, and Mike & Molly.

4:28 am

Tue November 27, 2012

Librarian Nancy Pearl's Picks For The Omnivorous Reader

Credit Nishant Choksi

By Nancy Pearl

Originally published on Fri November 30, 2012 4:12 pm

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I'm often asked how I choose the books that I'm going to talk about on Morning Edition's "Under the Radar" segments. Simple: I just pick some of the titles that I've most enjoyed since the last time I was on, without concern for whether they're fiction or nonfiction, genre or not, or aimed or classified as being for children or teens.

4:48 pm

Mon November 26, 2012

Independent Bookstores Find Their Footing

Credit J. Scott Applewhite / AP

President Obama and daughters Sasha and Malia go shopping at a small bookstore, One More Page, in Arlington, Va. This is shaping up to be a better holiday season for independent booksellers than in past years.

By Lynn Neary

Originally published on Mon November 26, 2012 6:18 pm

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In recent years, the start of the holiday shopping season has meant nothing but gloom for independent bookstores. But this year, the mood seems to be lifting, and a lot of booksellers are feeling optimistic. Even President Obama kicked off his Christmas shopping at a neighborhood bookstore in Northern Virginia.

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2:34 pm

Tue November 27, 2012