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 St.
Mark's Episcopal Church in Prattville, AL has purchased
a Custom Phoenix PT243. (http://www.stmarksprattville.org/)
This organ is 2 manuals with 43 speaking stops in two
separate Specifications, 1) English/Romantic, and 2) French
Baroque. The French specification has been designed by
Professor Joseph Golden of Columbus State University. Golden
also consulted on the English/Romantic specification by
Phoenix's Tonal Director Donald Anderson. Mr. Paul Culp is
the Organist/Director of Music at St. Mark's and chose Mr.
Golden to design the French Specification. Mr. Golden
played the dedicatory recital. (http://music.colstate.edu/faculty/faculty.asp?strRef=26).
The console is a custom designed side-jamb style console in
dark oak to match the woodwork in the historic old church,
and to fit perfectly into an alcove in the choir area.
The church plans on retaining the small, attractive pipe
facade from the original organ and have the pipes cleaned
and re-painted.
Golden
is the designer of the new LeTourneau organ in Legacy Hall
of the River Center for the Performing Arts in Columbus, GA.
Mr. Golden is a member of the American Guild of Organists,
the National Association of Teachers of Singing, the
National Opera Association, Opera America, Music Teachers
National Association, Phi Kappa Phi and Pi Kappa Lambda.
Most recently, Mr. Golden has been appointed the first
permanent advisor for the Metropolitan Opera Council on
Creating Original Opera at Lincoln Center in New York City.
See
a short video of Mr. Golden "exploring" the
Phoenix PT243 Custom Digital Organ here:
The
organ installation replaces an historic, but aging Kilgen
4-rank pipe organ. As it turns out, the old Kilgen 4-rank
pipe organ replaced by the Phoenix PT243, has a link to 20th
century American history. This organ was originally in the
Dexter Avenue Baptist Church which has had a significant
role in the Civil Rights movement in the mid-twentieth
century. The church name was changed to Dexter Avenue King
Memorial Baptist Church, which honors a former pastor, the
late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who was pastor at the
time the Kilgen organ was there. During this same time
period, Rev. King presided over the funeral of three of the
four girls killed in the nearby Sixteenth Street Baptist
Church bombing, during the racial unrest, in 1963.
(The family of the fourth girl wanted a separate, private
service). Martin Luther King, Jr. gave the eulogy at the
funeral, and President John F. Kennedy (who would be gunned
down a just a few months later) spoke on television to the
nation at that time. The funeral of the girls, was witnessed
by 8,000 mourners, and 800 clergy, both white and
black. Soon after this, the organ was moved to St.
Mark's Episcopal Church in Prattville, AL.
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On
June 3, 1974, the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church was
designated a national historic landmark by the National Park
Service of the United States Department of Interior in view
of Rev. Dr. King's leadership in the Civil Rights Struggle.
The meeting in which the decision was made to launch the bus
boycott was held in the church's basement on December 2,
1955 and Pastor King was a participant. He was later elected
President of the Montgomery Improvement Association and
directed the activities of the boycott from his office in
the lower unit of the church. On July 13, 1976 the
city of Montgomery added the church to its list of
designated historic sites. Landmarks foundation of
Montgomery unveiled an historic marker on its site on June
22, 1980.
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