Cathedral of Saint Augustine, Bridgeport

The Cathedral of Saint Augustine is the main church for the Diocese of Bridgeport. It includes 87 parishes throughout Fairfield County and 460,000 registered catholics. The Cathedral today in addition to many Diocese special services is home to English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Portuguese congregations that meet at various times during the week and month.

Celebration of the Alma Schenk Hiendlmayr Memorial Organ at the cathedral’s church

Starting in September 2011, A. Thompson-Allen, was enlisted in a three-phase process to completely renovate and refurbish the cathedral organ.  The project included repair and maintenance of its mechanism and internal workings, the rehabilitation of its existing pipework and its augmentation with new pipework. 

That work has now been completed in June 2014. The result is a highly versatile, flexible and reliable pipe organ that will serve The Cathedral Parish and the Diocese of Bridgeport well for generations to come not only for liturgical use as a Cathedral-style instrument, but also as a fine work of art on which can be played the vast corpus of organ literature, both solo and with instrumental, choral and symphonic accompaniment.

This complete and thorough tonal overhaul has been conducted to the extent that each and every single stop from the former 1979 M.P. Moller Opus 11385 and the pipework additions from Peragallo Opus 655 (2003) have been either revoiced, replaced or deleted.  The work done to the instrument is thus so comprehensive that it is now considered as Opus 124 of the A. Thompson-Allen Company.  The existing organ has three manuals and 42 ranks of pipework, with a total of 54 speaking stops.  Significant among the tonal changes is the completely reworking of the Positif division into a beautiful and Choir division, an additional 8’ Diapason and English-style 8’ Trumpet added to the Great division, and the replacement of the former half-length 32’ reed with a full-length 32’ Bombarde.

Stop List

M.P. Möller, 1979, Opus 11385
A. Thompson-Allen, Opus 124

GREAT 3-1/2” WP		Pipes
16’	Sub Principal	61
8’	Principal	61
8’	Diapason (extension 16’)	12
8’	Flute Harmonique (TC)	49
8’	Bourdon	61
8’	Viole de Gambe	61
4’	Prestant	61
4’	Koppelflute	61
2-2/3’	Twelfth	61
2’	Fifteenth	61
1-3/5’	Seventeenth	61
III-V	Fourniture	268
8’	Trumpet	61
8’	Pontifical Trumpet (TC) 7”	49
	Tremulant
GREATSWELL 3-1/2” WP		Pipes
16’	Bourdon	61
8’	Diapason	61
8’	Stopped Diapason (ext. 16’)	12
8’	Salicional	61
8’	Voix Céleste (TC)	49
4’	Octave	61
4’	Open Flute	61
2’	Flute (extension of 4’ Flute)	12
III-IV	Plein Jeu	232
16’	Basson	61
8’	Trompette	61
8’	Hautbois (extension 16’)	12
8’	Vox Humana (to C5)	49
4’	Clairon	61
	Tremulant
CHOIR 3-1/2” WP		Pipes
8’	Melodia	61
8’	Flauto Dolce	61
8’	Flute Celeste (TC)	49
4’	Harmonic Flute	61
2-2/3’	Nazard	61
2’	Harmonic Piccolo	61
1-3/5’	Tierce	61
8’	Clarinet	61
8’	Pontifical Trumpet (from Great)
	Tremulant
PEDAL 3-1/2” WP flues; 8” reeds		Pipes
32’	Diapason (resultant)
32’	Contre Bourdon	32
16’	Diapason	32
16’	Principal (from Great)
16’	Bourdon (extension)	12
16’	Echo Lieblich (from Swell)
8’	Octave (ext. Principal)
8’	Flute (ext. Bourdon)	12
8’	Still Gedeckt (ext. Echo Lieblich)
4’	Choral Bass (ext. Principal)
4’	Flute Harmonique (from Great)
III	Mixture (synthetic – from Principal)
32’	Contre Bombarde	32
16’	Bombarde (extension 32’)	12
16’	Basson (from Swell)
8’	Trompette (extension 16’)	12

Total Pipes: 2,474
Total Ranks: 42
Total Speaking Stops 54

A. Thompson-Allen Co., 2014 Opus 124
Incorporating mechanism and pipework from
Peragallo Organ Co., 2003 Opus 655
M. P. Möller, 1979 Opus 11385

 

Recent AGO Performances

2023 – 75th Chapter Anniversary Recital & Dinner

Enjoy photos, program, and the commissioned piece from this very special 75th Anniversary event.

75th Anniversary Program

The Celebration Photo Gallery

Commissioned Piece Video – Suite No. 2: Homage to H. T. Burleigh   (Daniel Ficarri) – Sheet Music – Suite No. 2:Homage – Ficarri

Dr. Joe premiering his Commissioned Piece Video – My Life Flows On  – (Joe Utterback) – Dedicated to Rev. Meg Williams

 

2014 Scholarship Winner & Member Concert & Annual Dinner

Thank you everyone that made this a very special event.

Enjoy the photos and the program from the event and the CT Post article on the restored organ and Katelyn Emerson’s concert by clicking on the respective links.

Rhapsody in C sharp Minor, p 17 No 3, Herbert Howells – Katelyn Emerson, organ

Vater unser im Himmelreich, from Clavierubung III, BMV 682, JS Bach, Katelyn Emerson, organ

Pieces de Fantaisie, Quatrieme Suite, Op. 55, IV Naiades (Louis Vierne) – Katelyn Emerson, organ

Choral-Improvisation sur le Victimae paschali laudes (Charles Tournemire) – Katelyn Emerson, organ 

To You, O God, All Creatures Sing – Improvisation-Hymn – Dr. John Michniewicz, organ, Jeff Albright, trumpet

Let the Bright Seraphim (George Handel) Krista Adams Santilli, soprano; Jeff Albright, trumpet, David Harris, organ

Visions (Dr. Joe Utterback) – Dr. John Michniewicz, organ; Frank Zilinyi, piano (audio download)

Postlude—Symphony No. 1, Op 14: VI. Finale – Frank Zilinyi, organ (audio download)

 

2010 Pipe Organ Encounter – Faculty Recital

Program – The Faculty Program

Photo Galleries:
July 1, 2010 – Faculty Recital – Cathedral of Saint Augustine, Bridgeport

Video Clips:
Josiah Armes – Allegro from Vierne Symphony (Louis Vierne)
Jeffrey Wood – Acclamations from Suite Medievalte (Jean Langlais)
Dr. John Michniewicz – Sonata DeClarines (Antonio Soler)
Jeffrey Wood, Galen Tate – Variations on an Easter Theme Duet (John Rutter)