A Spectacular Anniversary
Ten Years of Organ and Orchestra Music in Colorado Springs
By Jacob Pope
This article first appeared in the August 2025 issue of The American Organist magazine (© 2025 by the American Guild of Organists). It is reprinted here with permission.
The Chamber Orchestra of the Springs’ annual Organ Spectacular brings together organists from across southern Colorado to perform music for organ with orchestra. This September will mark the tenth presentation of the program, which has introduced the organ to countless new listeners, expanded awareness of what the instrument is capable of, and inspired the creation of many new works, all while becoming our best-selling concert of the year.
Hosted by First United Methodist Church of Colorado Springs, the Organ Spectacular was originally a celebration of the $500,000 restoration of the church’s IV/88 Reuter, completed in 2014 by David Salmen of South Dakota.
“We worked to best make the organ fill the sanctuary and support the choir across a wider range of frequency, dynamic, and color,” Salmen told me. “Some of the very delicate ‘prayer stops’ of the organ that were typical of the 1950s—to provide cover music—have given way to more powerful orchestral voices that will accompany the choir. . . . The early solid-state switching and memory system from the 1980s was replaced with [fiber optic] technology.”
An antiphonal organ was also added during the renovation, adding to the flexibility of the instrument.
In its current configuration, the church’s organ is the largest in southern Colorado—and one of the largest in the western United States. The formal rededication service on October 19, 2014, was presented by Joseph Galema, who regularly performs on the Organ Spectacular series.
“I attended a recital at FUMC showcasing the renovated organ, with the new ranks of pipes located at the back of the sanctuary, and all of it sounding so powerful, balanced, and colorful,” said Thomas Wilson, the Chamber Orchestra’s music director. “After the recital, I spoke with Steve Harter [FUMC’s former music director], and it was like we were both thinking the same thing: This is now the best organ in town, in a great acoustic space for live music, with a stage area large enough for an orchestra. What are we waiting for? And so it began.”
Thomas Wilson, music director of the Chamber Orchestra
“After the recital, I spoke with Steve Harter [FUMC’s former music director], and it was like we were both thinking the same thing: This is now the best organ in town, in a great acoustic space for live music, with a stage area large enough for an orchestra. What are we waiting for? And so it began.”
Thomas Wilson
The first iteration of the Organ Spectacular leaned on familiar repertoire, including Saint-Saëns’s “Organ” Symphony and the Rutter Gloria. The performance was well attended and well received, but at the time we expected it to be a one-time celebration of the renovation.
“The public didn’t know that there is so much great repertoire for organ and orchestra,” Wilson said. “They were impressed with [the performance], but we had to make the case that there is more.”
The second iteration of the Organ Spectacular made it clear that the concert was here to stay.
“I had a long list of repertoire from the beginning,” Wilson said, “but once the door was open, we had suggestions coming from all directions—audience, orchestra, and organists from around the country.”
Since the first performance in 2015, the Organ Spectacular has introduced southern Colorado to new repertoire each season, never repeating a single piece, and inspiring one commission and multiple arrangements for organ and orchestra of works originally written for solo organ. Our video of the Widor Toccata, arranged by Wilson for full orchestra with organ, has amassed over 100,000 views on YouTube.
“I had a long list of repertoire from the beginning,” Wilson said, “but once the door was open, we had suggestions coming from all directions—audience, orchestra, and organists from around the country.”
The concert has also been an excellent opportunity for collaboration with the Colorado Springs AGO Chapter. “The chapter has often preceded the Sunday concert with a Saturday morning Pedals, Pipes & Pizza workshop, and also with time using the chapter’s Orgelkids kit,” said local organist Bonnie Linder. “Those youth attending receive free tickets to the concert and are also invited on-stage afterward to talk with one of the organists. In addition, the chapter hosts the pre-concert lecture about the three or four organ-orchestra pieces to be played that day.”
I’ll admit: when I was hired, I thought it was quite strange that this tiny orchestra started each season with something as off the beaten path as an organ concert. But after experiencing the program for the first time, I immediately understood. The Organ Spectacular draws an audience from across Colorado and the entire western United States in a way that none of our other performances are able to do. People are hungry for this music, and they appreciate the importance of these incredible instruments as tools for community-building and music-making, and as markers of the history of music in our city.
“With the organ-orchestra collaboration, the versatility of the organ as an instrument is readily apparent,” said Linder. “Some pieces are concerto-like, with a duet between the orchestra and the organ. Others use the organ as just another instrument in the orchestra. And there is a wide variety of these two ends of the spectrum, evident in the more than 30 pieces that have been played in the last ten years.”
For the tenth anniversary of the concert, we chose to highlight American music in a program featuring Dan Locklair’s Concerto for Organ and Orchestra and the premiere of An American Tone Poem by Colorado organist Roderick Gorby. The concert will also feature music from Hans Zimmer’s soundtrack for Interstellar.
It was important to me to honor the legacy of this concert by not just exploring the existing repertoire but adding to it with the commission. And the fact that this year’s selections are exclusively from the 21st century—while not an intentional choice—bears witness to the reality that this medium is relevant and thriving today. The list of repertoire we hope to perform has only grown over the years, and we have no plans to stop the series any time soon.
“I hope it underscores, in a time when so many churches are closing and the future of so many instruments is uncertain, that churches are more than just places of worship,” Wilson said. “They can be centers for community, art, and music in a way that will keep these historic spaces relevant and vital.”
This article first appeared in the August 2025 issue of The American Organist magazine (© 2025 by the American Guild of Organists). It is reprinted here with permission.
“Churches are more than just places of worship,” Wilson said. “They can be centers for community, art, and music in a way that will keep these historic spaces relevant and vital.”
Organ Spectacular I (2015), Joseph Galema, organist: Rutter Gloria