Important News Updates
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Email the Friends for more info: execdirec@wanamakerorgan.com
Wanamaker Organ Day is Saturday June 4 and includes a full day of mainly free activities, tours and concerts, plus a ticketed Grand Evening of Pops Concert!
Legendary organist Dorothy Papadakos (St. John the Divine: 1990-’03) joins Peter Richard Conte for our ticketed Grand Evening of Pops Concert. Plans call for Dorothy to play a tribute to Hollywood, Jazz and Broadway, do an Improvisation, do a homage to Duke Ellington and play a four-hand arrangement with Peter Richard Conte. Peter, meanwhile, has another of his blockbuster transcriptions on tap—his full transcription of Richard Strauss’s Overture from Der Rosenkavalier!
It’s the Wanamaker Organ on the lighter side with works by Richard Rodgers, Duke Ellington (six numbers!), Irving Berlin, Glenn Miller, George Gershwin, Jule Styne, Marvin Hamlisch, Johnny Mercer, Miklos Theodorakis, Jerry Boch and Lerner & Lowe! For Evening of Pops Concert Day Tickets, please click on the banner below! We will have your name at our will-call desk and you may also use your receipt for admission.
Wanamaker Organ Day June 4 is a full day of music, free tours and presentations that also includes a spectacular free Platinum Jubilee salute to Queen Elizabeth II featuring a massed choir, tympani and brass ensemble (5 p.m.). (The Wanamaker Organ was dedicated at the exact time Britain’s King George V was crowned in June 1911.) Experience the regal majesty and choral glory of a Westminster Abbey coronation tribute right here in Philadelphia’s Grand Court!
The day begins with a showing of the latest Wanamaker Organ Yearbook in Greek Hall, beginning at 9 a.m. Assemble in the Juniper Street Lobby.
That is followed Sat. at 11 a.m. with a special concert featuring Peter Richard Conte’s extremely talented Assistant Grand Court Organists, all of whom are past masters at showcasing all the bells and whistles of the complicated Wanamaker Organ at its very best. Look for Emily Amos, Mark Bani, Jeremy Flood, Rudy Lucente, Aaron Patterson and Dylan David Shaw!
Next at 2 p.m.Nathan Avakian makes a not-to-be-missed musical presentation at our Wurlitzer in Greek Hall. Included are some special silent-film shorts by aspiring filmmakers that are some of the cleverest and most engaging homages to early filmmaking we have yet seen. Concert selections include Disney, rock and pop and even some remixed classics! This concert is held in memory of Bob Dilworth. A small admission fee is collected at the Greek Hall door, Floor Three.
Plans are also in the works for free special events Friday June 3 (daily concerts at noon and at 7 p.m. (dedicated to Joseph P. Gianfortune), and shop and chamber tours) and Sunday June 5 (a free chamber tour). Mark your calendars now!
Also watch this space for a planned Saturday October 8 after-store-hours Organ-Orchestra concert with Peter Richard Conte and Symphony in C!
Particular thanks for all of you who made last September’s Wanamaker Organ Day 2021 such a spectacular success! The morning concert may be viewed HERE!
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. Press coverage is HERE! Also HERE! Also HERE!
June 2021 was also “Pipe Organ Month” in Philadelphia, and during the month of June 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!
Our 2021 video yearbook is available to all members who renew at the contributor level or higher. Get a detailed look at the goings on of our major restoration and concert activities.
Paid monthly tours have resumed! Tickets are available under the tour section of our webstore. Secure your admissions now!
Listen to a Public Radio Tale of Two Pandemics—and the Wanamaker Organ—below!
Enjoy Macy’s 2020 virtual edition of its Philadelphia Christmas Light Show below!
Michael Barone’s Pipedreams presents a Virtual Wanamaker Organ Day HERE!
CLICK ITEMS BELOW FOR A FREE WANAMAKER ORGAN VIRTUAL CONCERT AS WE SUPPORT THE ARTS IN A TIME OF ARTISTIC CRISIS!
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 concertHERE
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! Website features on store amenities such as the Visitor Center reflect pre-Coronavirus conditions that may not yet have been reinstated as Philadelphia recovers from the pandemic.
Our latest 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!
Important News Updates
ENJOY OUR NEW WEB PAGES.
BE SURE TO SCROLL DOWN!
Email the Friends for more info: execdirec@wanamakerorgan.com
We have gotten the green light for a full Wanamaker Organ Day celebration Saturday September 25. Peter Richard Conte welcomes special guest Raul Prieto Ramirez from the Spreckels Organ in San Diego! Evening Concert details include a playing of Dupre’s powerhouse Symphonie-Passion as the musical wonderwork marks its 100th anniversary!
Preliminary plans are still being formulated as this is written. Our projections for Friday include free organ and shop tours during t he afternoon following the noon concert, an early (5 pm) Wanamaker Organ daily concert, and a catered, ticketed wine and hors-d’oeuvres event in Greek Hall that pays tribute to retired curator Curt Mangel.
Saturday activities call for a 9 A.M. showing of our Wanamaker Organ Yearbook documentary on the big screens Greek Hall. It includes fascinating segments on the Organ Case and Eagle restoration, plus lots of behind-the scenes activities and a feature on Macy’s and Philadelphia during the lockdown.
Then at 11 the free Grand Opening Concert features Peter Richard Conte and his associate organists.
At 2 pm John Baretta takes command of our Mighty Wurlitzer in Greek Hall, in a program of music from the Great American Songbook, with a silent short. A nominal admission will be charged at the door.
Following the Wurlitzer concert are free pipe-chamber tours and an opportunity to visit our restoration studios.
At 5 pm Philadelphia Brass adds its formidable resources to the mighty Wanamaker in a program presented in memory of YesterdayUSA’s Bill Bragg.
Then at 8 pm Raul Prieto Ramirez , master of San Diego’s famous outdoor pipe organ,
shares the stage with Mr. Conte for the ticketed Grand Evening Concert, held in the closed Macy’s. Included is Mr. Conte’s sensational centennial performance of the powerhouse Dupré Symphonie-Passion, which began its life as a Grand Court improvisation exactly a century ago.
This special evening program is presented in loving memory of longtime assistant Wanamaker Organist John Binsfeld.
For those staying over through Sunday we will have more organ chamber and Shop tours, at 11 am and again at 2 pm. Visitors will also have an opportunity of seeing shop projects in progress and the organ console.
Look for further details as plans are finalized.
Please mark your calendars now and look to this space for updates!
June 22 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 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!
Thanks so very much to all who made our Spring Concert Streamcast such a wonderful success. Particular thanks go to David Kim and Peter Richard Conte, with much backstage preparation from Jon Buchanan and Matt Taft. Thanks to all who made donations, too, to provide much needed funds for these expensive virtual presentations.
Our video yearbook has been mailed out and should arrive shortly. It is available to all members who renew at the contributor level or higher. Thank you for your understanding for production delays.
The summer issue of our newsletter was mailed June 25 and should arrive in your mailboxes shortly.
The Spring Issue of the Friends newsletter has these exciting stories:
- Major Spring Virtual Concert Streamcast is in production featuring Philadelphia Orchestra concertmaster David Kim and Peter Richard Conte, and also Conte Organ Solo Masterworks
- How professional restorers thoroughly restored our Eagle
- Major progress made on Solo Division
- How our gigantic Pedal mixture, the Grand Mutation, is being restored and what its sonic impact will be
- John Wanamaker’s Giant Electric Sign in Manhattan
- What was the Wanamaker Store in New York like when Wanamaker’s brought Marcel Dupre to dedicate its new Auditorium Organ
- How the pandemic is affecting Philadelphia and the Store
- Macy’s benefits from major construction initiatives
- Major Audsley landmark to be restored in Liverpool
- Readers send letters of appreciation for our streamcasts
- What happens when there are three Keith’s in the Organ Loft.
- Wit and wisdom from the late John Binsfeld.
Paid monthly tours have resumed! Tickets are available under the tour section of our webstore. Secure your admissions now!
Listen to a Public Radio Tale of Two Pandemics—and the Wanamaker Organ—below!
Enjoy Macy’s new virtual edition of its Philadelphia Christmas Light Show below!
Michael Barone’s Pipedreams presents a Virtual Wanamaker Organ Day HERE!
Macy’s reopened Friday June 12 at 11 am with the sound of music! Hallelujah! You can listen to “America the Beautiful” HERE!
A 2021 Wanamaker Organ Day remains just a pipe dream for the moment, but retail historian Michael Lisicky pays tribute to it in FORBES HERE! A FORBES article on John Wanamaker and Macy’s in times of pandemic by Lisicky is HERE.
CLICK ITEMS BELOW FOR A FREE WANAMAKER ORGAN VIRTUAL CONCERT AS WE SUPPORT THE ARTS IN THIS TIME OF ARTISTIC CRISIS!
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 concertHERE
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! Website features on store amenities such as the Visitor Center reflect pre-Coronavirus conditions that may not yet have been reinstated as the store gradually reopens.For those who have renewed, Premium Item A, our 2019 Video Yearbook, and Premium Item J, Symphonic Spendor, have completed production and were mailed out March 27. 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!
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!
SOME NOTES ON OUR NEW WEBSITE: We redesigned the website this summer and think it offers many improvements. At the same time, our webstore platform CoolCart went out of business in October and we moved to the SquareSpace platform. Many of you enjoy giving multiple gift subscriptions when you renew your membership, or like to give special amounts, and the new renewal platform varies slightly from the old one.
Getting to the point, if there is anything specific you would like to do when renewing and can’t quite make it work out on the new renewal page, please feel free to give us a call at 484/684 7250 and we will be delighted to help you!
Watch a 6ABC tribute to the Wanamaker Organ by clicking the box above!
Enjoy a Pipedreams Michael Stairs tribute featuring the Wanamaker Organ HERE!
Important News Updates
ENJOY OUR NEW WEB PAGES.
BE SURE TO SCROLL DOWN!
Email the Friends for more info: execdirec@wanamakerorgan.com
We have gotten the green light for a full Wanamaker Organ Day celebration Saturday September 25. Peter Richard Conte welcomes special guest Raul Prieto Ramirez from the Spreckels Organ in San Diego! Evening Concert details include a playing of Dupre’s powerhouse Symphonie-Passion as the musical wonderwork marks its 100th anniversary!
Preliminary plans are still being formulated as this is written. Our projections for Friday include free organ and shop tours during t he afternoon following the noon concert, an early (5 pm) Wanamaker Organ daily concert, and a catered, ticketed wine and hors-d’oeuvres event in Greek Hall that pays tribute to retired curator Curt Mangel.
Saturday activities call for a 9 A.M. showing of our Wanamaker Organ Yearbook documentary on the big screens Greek Hall. It includes fascinating segments on the Organ Case and Eagle restoration, plus lots of behind-the scenes activities and a feature on Macy’s and Philadelphia during the lockdown.
Then at 11 the free Grand Opening Concert features Peter Richard Conte and his associate organists.
At 2 pm John Baretta takes command of our Mighty Wurlitzer in Greek Hall, in a program of music from the Great American Songbook, with a silent short. A nominal admission will be charged at the door.
Following the Wurlitzer concert are free pipe-chamber tours and an opportunity to visit our restoration studios.
At 5 pm Philadelphia Brass adds its formidable resources to the mighty Wanamaker in a program presented in memory of YesterdayUSA’s Bill Bragg.
Then at 8 pm Raul Prieto Ramirez , master of San Diego’s famous outdoor pipe organ,
shares the stage with Mr. Conte for the ticketed Grand Evening Concert, held in the closed Macy’s. Included is Mr. Conte’s sensational centennial performance of the powerhouse Dupré Symphonie-Passion, which began its life as a Grand Court improvisation exactly a century ago.
This special evening program is presented in loving memory of longtime assistant Wanamaker Organist John Binsfeld.
For those staying over through Sunday we will have more organ chamber and Shop tours, at 11 am and again at 2 pm. Visitors will also have an opportunity of seeing shop projects in progress and the organ console.
Look for further details as plans are finalized.
Please mark your calendars now and look to this space for updates!
June 22 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 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!
Thanks so very much to all who made our Spring Concert Streamcast such a wonderful success. Particular thanks go to David Kim and Peter Richard Conte, with much backstage preparation from Jon Buchanan and Matt Taft. Thanks to all who made donations, too, to provide much needed funds for these expensive virtual presentations.
Our video yearbook has been mailed out and should arrive shortly. It is available to all members who renew at the contributor level or higher. Thank you for your understanding for production delays.
The summer issue of our newsletter was mailed June 25 and should arrive in your mailboxes shortly.
The Spring Issue of the Friends newsletter has these exciting stories:
- Major Spring Virtual Concert Streamcast is in production featuring Philadelphia Orchestra concertmaster David Kim and Peter Richard Conte, and also Conte Organ Solo Masterworks
- How professional restorers thoroughly restored our Eagle
- Major progress made on Solo Division
- How our gigantic Pedal mixture, the Grand Mutation, is being restored and what its sonic impact will be
- John Wanamaker’s Giant Electric Sign in Manhattan
- What was the Wanamaker Store in New York like when Wanamaker’s brought Marcel Dupre to dedicate its new Auditorium Organ
- How the pandemic is affecting Philadelphia and the Store
- Macy’s benefits from major construction initiatives
- Major Audsley landmark to be restored in Liverpool
- Readers send letters of appreciation for our streamcasts
- What happens when there are three Keith’s in the Organ Loft.
- Wit and wisdom from the late John Binsfeld.
Paid monthly tours have resumed! Tickets are available under the tour section of our webstore. Secure your admissions now!
Listen to a Public Radio Tale of Two Pandemics—and the Wanamaker Organ—below!
Enjoy Macy’s new virtual edition of its Philadelphia Christmas Light Show below!
Michael Barone’s Pipedreams presents a Virtual Wanamaker Organ Day HERE!
Macy’s reopened Friday June 12 at 11 am with the sound of music! Hallelujah! You can listen to “America the Beautiful” HERE!
A 2021 Wanamaker Organ Day remains just a pipe dream for the moment, but retail historian Michael Lisicky pays tribute to it in FORBES HERE! A FORBES article on John Wanamaker and Macy’s in times of pandemic by Lisicky is HERE.
CLICK ITEMS BELOW FOR A FREE WANAMAKER ORGAN VIRTUAL CONCERT AS WE SUPPORT THE ARTS IN THIS TIME OF ARTISTIC CRISIS!
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 concertHERE
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! Website features on store amenities such as the Visitor Center reflect pre-Coronavirus conditions that may not yet have been reinstated as the store gradually reopens.For those who have renewed, Premium Item A, our 2019 Video Yearbook, and Premium Item J, Symphonic Spendor, have completed production and were mailed out March 27. 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!
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!
SOME NOTES ON OUR NEW WEBSITE: We redesigned the website this summer and think it offers many improvements. At the same time, our webstore platform CoolCart went out of business in October and we moved to the SquareSpace platform. Many of you enjoy giving multiple gift subscriptions when you renew your membership, or like to give special amounts, and the new renewal platform varies slightly from the old one.
Getting to the point, if there is anything specific you would like to do when renewing and can’t quite make it work out on the new renewal page, please feel free to give us a call at 484/684 7250 and we will be delighted to help you!
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.
Choose from a wide selection of Wanamaker Organ products at Macy’s Visitor Center!
VISIT OUR SITE FOR A COMPLETE VISITOR GUIDE AND HISTORY OF THE PHILADELPHIA MACY’S CHRISTMAS LIGHT SHOW! WE REGRET THAT OPERATIONS AT MACY’S VISITOR CENTER HAVE BEEN SUSPENDED AT PRESENT DURING THE CORONAVIRUS EPIDEMIC. Looking for Wanamaker Organ books, CDs, DVDs and souvenirs? Want to learn more about Macy’s and the Organ? […]
Tours of the Chambers
TAKE A TOUR! Admission to our monthly last-Saturday-of-the-month Organ Tours are available by securing admissioni 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 […]
READ THESE EXCITING STORIES IN THE FALL MEMBER NEWSLETTER!
Friends is paying tribute to Stokowski Symphony of 15,000 with ambitious Sept. 28 concert showcasing Symphony in C. How the 1919 Concert led to Stokowski’s famous transcriptions. Ways quality restoration depends on the fine details. How new paneling is unleashing the powerhouse Solo division. What the gilded fine detail of the Restored Case looks like. […]
