America’s Premier Pipe Organ Experience
Important News Updates
Email the Friends for more info: execdirec@wanamakerorgan.com
MACY’S IS NOW CLOSED AS BUILDING REDEVELOPMENT
IS AWAITED. OUR WANAMAKER ORGAN RESTORATION ACTIVITIES ARE CONTINUING. THE MOST RECENT NEWS ON POTENTIAL GRAND COURT PROGRAMMING LATER THIS YEAR IS FOUND BY READING THE PRESS RELEASE LINKED AT THE TOP OF THIS PAGE.
The Friends of the Wanamaker Organ has been gratified by the overwhelming response to our cause. We will need your support moving forward. Please consider a contribution to further our work on your behalf. Over its 34 year history the Friends of the Wanamaker Organ has raised more than 11 million dollars on behalf of the cause of the Wanamaker Organ, and our restoration work is ongoing. The last series of Macy’s daily concerts was on Saturday March 22.
Please join our ranks using the banner above and receive our lavish quarterly newsletter. Or make a crucial Tax Deductible Contribution clicking the red banner below. Please help us navigate 2025 with the resources we need at a time of major transition, as we seek to preserve our musical masterpiece and unlock yet more musical beauty!
Special thanks to the many volunteers who make our concerts such smooth running operations, and particularly to Claire Whiting, who manages volunteers and comes all the way from Florida to take part.
All volunteers can take pride in the magnificent work you have been doing. Thanks also to Macy’s for their generous offering of salads and sandwiches for our volunteers at these events, which is also most appreciated!
Enjoy our 2024 Spring Concert Archival Streamcast with Gordon Turk! Click the Banner Below
Look to this space for upcoming news on concerts and events during this period when Macy’s has vacated its retailed space. Detailed information on events and the restoration, as well as interesting history and background is av ailable to members of the Friends of the Wanamaker Organ through our 16-page quarterly newsletter The Stentor, included free with membership. New members may join HERE for just $25.
Congratulations to 2023’s group of stellar students from our Sansom Grant masterclasses! Left to right with teachers Alan Morrison and Peter Richard Conte are Henry Dangerfield, Jon Bolena, Michael Guarnieri, Cadence Brassard and Sarah Ku.
Friends members who donate at certain gift levels are eligible for premium gifts—our gift to you. Please take advantage of these opportunities, available when you renew for 2024 at the top of this page!
Particular thanks for all of you who made the June 2023 Wanamaker Organ Day such a spectacular success! With your support we are producing excellence!
Paid Monthly Tours have been suspended in this period when Macy’s has closed its Center City Store as the retail space prepares for redevelopment. Members of the Friends get all the latest information as our restoration work continues.
THE WANAMAKER ORGAN—WHERE PHILADELPHIA’S AVENUE OF THE ARTS STARTS
Listen to a Public Radio Tale of Two Pandemics—and the Wanamaker Organ—below!
Michael Barone’s Pipedreams presents a Virtual Wanamaker Organ Day HERE!
Our DVD, Symphonic Splendor is available for purchase from the DVD section of our webstore, with immediate shipping! Don’t miss this stupendous new production—enjoy the finest in Wanamaker Organ music with orchestra from the comfort of your own home! CLICK HERE TO SAMPLE THE DVD!
Watch a 6ABC tribute to the Wanamaker Organ by clicking the box above!
Enjoy a Pipedreams Michael Stairs tribute featuring the Wanamaker Organ HERE!
Email the Friends for more info: execdirec@wanamakerorgan.com
June 22, 2021 was the Wanamaker Organ’s 110th birthday! For the occasion the mighty Founder’s Bell atop One South Broad was rung 110 times, and Peter Richard Conte played two special concerts. The story is HERE! Also HERE! Also HERE!
June was “Pipe Organ Month” in Philadelphia, and during the month of June 2021 we streamed and archived special Peter Richard Conte after hours concerts first broadcast each Wednesday at 1 P.M. For the link to the Wednesday June 2 concert, CLICK HERE! For the June 9 concert, CLICK HERE! For the June 16 concert, CLICK HERE! For the June 23 concert CLICK HERE! For the June 30 concert, CLICK HERE!
Paid monthly tours are in full swing! Tickets are available under the tour section of our webstore. Secure your admissions now!
Michael Barone’s Pipedreams presents a Virtual Wanamaker Organ Day HERE!
CLICK ITEMS BELOW FOR A FREE WANAMAKER ORGAN VIRTUAL CONCERT!
Hear Peter Richard Conte play Moonlight Music from Richard Strauss’s Capriccio HERE
Hear Thomas Murray play Mouret’s Rondeau HERE
Hear Peter Richard Conte play the Scherzo from the Guilmant Sonata VIII HERE
Hear Thomas Murray play Grieg;s Anitra’s Dance HERE
Hear Thomas Murray play Elgar’s Imperial March HERE
Hear Peter Richard Conte and Philadelphia Orchestra Concertmaster David Kim in a Bach Duet HERE
Hear Conte and Kim in the Bach/Gounod Ave Maria in a presentation celebrating the artistic and musical legacy of Rodman Wanamaker, HERE
Conte and Kim play Fritz Kreisler’s Preludium and Allegro HERE
And the duo play the Meditation from Thais by Massenet HERE
SPEND SOME QUALITY TIME CHECKING OUT OUR CD and DVD SAMPLER!
Enjoy scenes from our Around the Wanamaker Organ in 80 Minutes DVD HERE
Sample the Keith Chapman Diamond Anniversary Wanamaker Organ concert HERE
Explore the tonal resources of the Wanamaker Organ with our Sonic Odyssey Sampler HERE
Thrill to Rachmaninoff Concerto Samples for Organ and Piano HERE
Enjoy highlights from our Symphonic Splendor Organ and Orchestra CD DVD set HERE
Explore the Wanamaker Organ with our Curator’s Tour starring Michael Barone and Curt Mangel, sampled HERE
All these titles are available for purchase and immediate shipping at our WEBSTORE.
ANNOUNCEMENT: Scroll down to see our latest CD and DVD!
An enticing selection of Wanamaker Organ CDs, DVDs and books is available for purchase at our webstore, with Immediate Shipping, and at the Macy’s Info Desk on the First Floor, Market, at the entrance to the Grand Court. Visiting during the Holidays? Check out our Macy’s Light Show feature by clicking on the menu at left.
Enjoy a Pipedreams Michael Stairs tribute featuring the Wanamaker Organ HERE!
Paid monthly tours have resumed! Tickets are available under the tour section of our webstore. Secure your admissions now!
An enticing selection of Wanamaker Organ CDs, DVDs and books is available for purchase at our webstore, with Immediate Shipping, and at the Macy’s Info Desk on the First Floor, Market, at the entrance to the Grand Court. Visiting during the Holidays? Check out our Macy’s Light Show feature from the menu at left!
Watch a 6ABC tribute to the Wanamaker Organ by clicking the box above!
Enjoy a Pipedreams Michael Stairs tribute featuring the Wanamaker Organ HERE!
Enjoy Hours of Archived Shows from the WRTI Wanamaker Organ Hour!
A wonderful archive of shows from the WRTI Wanamaker Organ Hour program is available HERE for your Internet listening pleasure! (You must open this post for the link to work.) The site is maintained by Julien Girard, a French aficionado now living in Quebec, with French-language names for the month of the original broadcast dates.
Prepaid Tours of the Chambers
TAKE A TOUR! Admission to our monthly last-Saturday-of-the-month Organ Tours are available by securing admissions at our webstore Tour section. Advance notice is no longer required for groups of five or smaller. You may purchase your admissions clicking HERE and meet your tour guide Nik Sizgorich at noon at the Eagle on the designated tour day […]
Remembering Bill Bragg
WE ARE VERY SORRY to report that our beloved Bill Bragg, the longtime Voice of Big Tex at the Texas State Fair and the Voice of the Wanamaker Organ over our kiosk and the weekly YesterdayUSA broadcast, passed away Friday June 28. More is at the Wanamaker Organ Friends and Fans Facebook Page and searchable […]
Become a Member
Our membership renewal period is still in full swing. We rely on donations from people like yourself who understand the complexity of the Wanamaker Organ and all that is required to keep it playing to accomplish our mission. Increased giving makes us eligible for increased grant amounts. For early birds and those who want to join […]
