PROVO — BYU’s new music building can be called impressive in many ways, but one of its claims to fame is it boasts the third largest pipe organ in the state.
With more than 4,600 pipes, the organ is the only organ in Utah to have two consoles: Organists can play from a console located in the center of the pipework facade or from a movable stage console.
Létourneau Organs from Quebec, Canada, was chosen in 2017 to design and build the organ. Overall, the 2½ year process utilized the expertise of 25 full-time craftspeople and specialists, thousands of hours and the finest woods and metals.
The result was the Opus 100, an organ that became one of Létourneau Organs’ most prestigious projects.
The pipes range in length from 32 feet to the size of a pencil, with some of the largest pipes being big enough a person could crawl through and “shaped like pretzels,” the university said.
The organ pipes are able to produce a vast range of sound, the largest of which creates incredibly deep vibrations as low as 16 hertz, which is the bottom of the average human’s hearing range.
Létourneau Organs president Andrew Forrest said the large pipes create a “visceral experience” in addition to the advanced features, massive size and phenomenal range.
“It’s a kind of sound that you feel in your belly,” he said. “It’s what makes the organ unique. Sometimes you can feel the sound shake the earth a little bit and cause the concert hall to reverberate in a way that no other instrument other than the pipe organ can.”
Each organ Létourneau Organs creates is a “custom work of art” as it is unique to the location and takes time to build the instrument by hand.
BYU organ professor Don Cook says the organ is the “crown jewel” of the new building. Organ faculty were involved with the design of the music building, aiming to make the space worthy of the world-class organ.
“As you enter the Concert Hall, the organ facade pipes strike you as the focal point. The random jagged lines, created by the pipe tops, reflect the mountaintops that are seen through the east glass wall of the Music Building,” Cook said.
This effect is “echoed with the tubular chandeliers of various lengths and positions in the foyer. We made a concerted effort to bring the mountains into the hearts of the music students as a means of renewal,” he added.
Cook said he treasures the opportunities he has to perform on the “magnificent” instrument.
“It was truly a mountaintop moment in my life to perform for the first time as organ soloist and with the BYU Philharmonic orchestra on a major pipe organ that I helped create. We designed it to be loved by the School of Music students, ensembles, faculty, audiences and by organ lovers everywhere,” he said.
The Opus 100’s inaugural season is underway with several recitals and concerts in the coming months.
The largest pipe organ in Utah, and one of the largest in the world, is the organ at the Salt Lake Tabernacle in Salt Lake City.
Correction: A previous version said the largest organ in Utah is in the Conference Center. It’s in the Salt Lake Tabernacle.
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