New Dobson Pipe Organ

The new organ (above) was featured at the rededication celebration for the expanded sanctuary, December 5, 2004. It was played by guest organist Naomi Rowley. The organ will be dedicated at a special service on June 26, 2005. Guest organist for the dedication will be John Ferguson of St. Olaf College.

At a special meeting on September 2002 the congregation approved the Organ Committee's recommendation to contract with Dobson Pipe Organ Builders, Ltd. for a new pipe organ. The instrument, Dobson’s Op. 79, will provide a variety of tonal resources for use in worship, and its installation in the church is scheduled for fall 2004. More specifically, our organ will have 24 stops (almost 1,300 pipes), and be built with mechanical (tracker) key action and electric stop action. The console of the instrument will be detached from the main case and reversed to provide excellent sight lines for the organist into the worship space and choir area.

Established 1974 by Lynn Dobson, the company has built its reputation by emphasizing a few essential constants in organ design-mechanical key action, slider windchests, good placement of the instrument in the room, and careful scaling and voicing. The firm now employs twenty people, and each year it is able to build about two organs the size of ours.

Each of Dobson's instruments achieves a distinctive and versatile character. Several of his organs are in Lutheran churches and colleges such as St. Olaf. The Organ Committee examined first-hand four Dobson organs in Lutheran churches in Wisconsin and one, installed within the last year, in Minnesota. The company recently built an organ for the newly constructed Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles and is currently building a massive instrument for the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia.

For more information about Dobson Pipe Organ Builders, Ltd., including pictures of the shop, its employees, instruments (previously built and under construction), and a complete stop list for our organ visit their website at www.dobsonorgan.com .

Special Gifts

The purchase of a pipe organ is an occasion that offers an opportunity to present a special gift in memory or in honor of someone loved and respected. Such gifts will be a vital contribution to the church, to be enjoyed now and for many generations in the future, as the vibrant tones of a well-designed pipe organ lead and support our worship.You may send your gift to:

Shepherd of the Bay Lutheran Church
PO Box 27
Ellison Bay,WI 54210
If your gift is in memory or honor of someone please include their name.