“The organ in the church was very old,” Ruhl said, adding that the church owned the old organ for 40 years. “The church had known it needed to be replaced.”
The new organ cost more than half a million dollars, Ruhl said.
“Now that we have an organ that is worth hearing, we can bring other artists to play,” he said. “It’s very important to share this with the community.”
On Sunday, Smeal played classical and contemporary music on the organ. He explained how the wind pipes and digital technology work together to produce the sounds.
“What you are hearing is a blending of pipes and digitals,” Kemp said.
Kemp played a few notes demonstrating the organ’s different sounds. He first played the keys that made the oboe sound and then switched to the digital oboe, which had a higher pitch.
“You can almost duplicate an orchestra,” said Don Williams, a choral singer at the church. “It’s great because the clarity is good,” he said.
Parishioners from the La Cañada Presbyterian Church also came to listen to Smeal perform. Smeal has been on the Glendale City Seventh-day Adventist Church staff since 1997 and is also the resident organist and pianist at the Presbyterian church in La Cañada Flintridge.
“We think he’s a magician,” Joan Williams, Don William’s wife, said of Kemp. “He just pulls notes out of that machinery.”
Sunday’s recital on the new organ also heightened the appreciation for organ music for many attending, including Sylvia and Douglas Bond, of Glendale.
“It was just fabulous,” Sylvia Bond said. “My mom comes to church here and it’s been months since they have been tuning the organ for the concert. I didn’t want it to be over.”
