Activist pushes MSO on pipe organ in new concert hall

Symphony leaders have responded to campaign by insisting Warner Grand location will have organ A recent artist’s rendering shows what a future Milwaukee Symphony concert in the Warner Grand Theatre could look like. KAHLER SLATER / MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY

When the Milwaukee Symphony opens its new concert hall in the fall of 2020, it will have restored Art Deco details, comfy seats, an adjustable orchestra shell and pervasive Wi-Fi.

But it won’t have a pipe organ on opening day, which has prompted a lobbying effort by local musical activist Charles Q. Sullivan.

“Time to correct this unfortunate omission is running out,” Sullivan wrote in a letter to MSO supporters and local media.

“With the new hall scheduled to open in less than two years, immediate action will be required to encourage the MSO to expand its vision to include a pipe organ, engage a consultant, develop a funding strategy, and commission a new instrument or find a suitable existing instrument … ,” Sullivan wrote.

Including Christmas concerts, the symphony typically uses an an organ in several programs each season at the Marcus Center.

In his letter, Sullivan argues that a pipe organ is an essential feature of a major concert hall.

Sullivan is the former executive and artistic director of Milwaukee’s Early Music Now series, as well as former director of music for the Catholic Cathedral and Diocese of Columbus (Ohio).

Milwaukee Symphony leaders have responded to Sullivan’s campaign by insisting the concert hall will have an organ installed after the hall opens.

“From day one, the organ blower room is in the building program,” said Milwaukee Symphony president and executive director Mark Niehaus. “All the conduit is there. The space for the pipes is there.”

Asked point blank, Niehaus guaranteed there would be an organ in its new concert hall, the former Warner Grand Theatre on Wisconsin Avenue, in the future. “Absolutely,” he said.

When informed of Niehaus’ guarantee, Sullivan responded by email:

“It is somewhat reassuring that the MSO administration now insists they plan to include an organ at some point. However, there doesn’t seem to be any indication that this is anything more than an ‘intent,’ without any actual plan (beyond the availability of a space).” Sullivan has urged the symphony to hire a pipe-organ design consultant.

Timing a fundraising campaign

The Warner Grand renovation is a $139 million project, including funds earmarked for the symphony’s endowment. The MSO has raised $112 million to date.

The symphony estimates the cost of obtaining and installing an organ in the hall will be $3 million to $5 million. “It’s very possible” the symphony could acquire a used organ from a church or other facility, Niehaus said. “That’s part of our ethos, right? We’re taking an old building and repurposing it.”

The concert hall won’t have an organ on opening night for a combination of acoustic and fundraising reasons, explained Niehaus and Susan Loris, executive vice president for institutional advancement.

“Putting an organ in a building is an incredibly intricate and delicate procedure.” Niehaus said.

“I’m not going to do anything until the building is done. I don’t want to get dust in the organ, I don’t want the pipes to get bent because there’s other things going on,” he said.

Paul Scarbrough of Akustics, the MSO’s acoustic design consultants on the Warner Grand project, wrote in an email to the symphony that there can be benefits to designing the organ after a new concert hall is opened. “This often results in an instrument that is better matched to the acoustics of the concert hall and one that speaks with greater authority in the room,” he wrote.

Sullivan does not see it the same way. “Retrofitting after the construction of the hall is completed is likely to be disruptive, expensive, and quite possibly compromising to the best result,” he wrote in an email.

From a fundraising point of view, the symphony said it did not include funds for an organ in its capital campaign for the project because it wanted to make sure essentials required for opening the building, such as seats and the HVAC system, were fully covered.

“We need to complete this project in order for the MSO to be financially stable. And that is our priority No. 1. Without the MSO being financially stable, we have no opportunity to use an organ,” Loris said.

Sullivan’s concern, reiterated in a follow-up email, is that by leaving the organ out of the initial building campaign and seeking funding for it later “the local philanthropic community is not likely to be as enthusiastic about an additional later appeal, which may well conflict with the needs of other worthy institutions.”

Coincidentally, or not, this discussion is taking place as the Milwaukee Symphony gets ready for two November programs that feature organ in its current home, the Marcus Center.

The symphony performs SaintSaëns’ Symphony No. 3, a.k.a. “Thundering Organ,” Nov. 9 and 10.

The orchestra’s performances of Respighi’s “Pines of Rome” on Nov. 16-18 also include the Marcus Center’s organ.