MOUNT VERNON — Cornell College will host a performance by the Cedar Rapids Symphony Chamber Orchestra on Sunday, April 2, featuring organist Robert Triplett, Cornell’s distinguished artist-in-residence, in his first performance on the newly renovated King Chapel organ. The concert is at 2 p.m. Admission is free.
Under the direction of Christian Tiemeyer, the symphony’s program will feature works for the orchestra and organ by Haydn, Poulenc, Giazotto and Rheinberger.
The King Chapel organ, manufactured especially for Cornell by M. P. Möller of Hagerstown, Md., was dedicated in 1967. It has four manuals and 3,800 pipes arranged in 65 ranks. In summer 1999, the operation of the organ was converted to a solid-state computer system. The stop-changing mechanism — formerly operated by countless wires and relay switches constantly in need of repair — is digitally operated and has been expanded from 48 preset stop combinations to 9,801 possibilities. The organ also has been fitted with a playback system so that a performer can record a performance and hear it from any vantage point in the auditorium.
The conversion of the organ was made possible by donations, particularly from Cornell’s class of 1948.
This weekend marks the 122nd anniversary of the opening of King Chapel. The first services were held in the lower chapel on the morning of April 1, 1878.