Bits ‘n’ Pieces: Church’s new organ to get Bach to business

• Who: Christopher Schindler, organist.

• What: Concert to welcome new Johannus organ, celebrate J.S. Bach’s 330th birthday.

■ When: 3 p.m. March 21.

■ Where: First Congregational United Church of Christ, 1220 N.E. 68th St.

■ Cost: Free.

It was the middle of choir practice when the organ at the First Congregational United Church of Christ’s organ decided to go out not with a whimper, but a bang.

Jeff Osborne, the church financial secretary, remembers listening to the organ’s abrupt demise.

“We were just sitting in the choir loft and we heard a big, loud sound, and it was the organ giving up the ghost,” Osborne said.

That was in November 2013, right before the Christmas holiday season.

For Osborne, it marked the start of a nearly $18,000 effort with the church to replace the fallen instrument. But before the funds were gathered, a local business came to the short-term rescue.

“Rose City Organ Builders were very gracious to us that season, and loaned us an organ so we could get through Christmas,” Osborne said. “They came, hooked it up and let us use it for a few months.”

After the holidays, church members came together and contributed — along with some generous memorial fund donations — to buy a new organ from the Johannus company of Holland last summer.

But the organ is a complicated instrument, and church organist Christopher Schindler, who has a Ph.D. in musical arts from the University of Oregon, wanted some time to acclimate to the new system before giving his first big public performance.

He’s been playing at church sermons over the past few months since the organ was installed, but now he’s ready to perform a larger concert on the instrument. And he’s timed it to go along with the 330th birthday of one of the greatest composers of organ music: Johann Sebastian Bach.

His free concert, which is open to the public, will be part of an international series of concerts planned for the day called “Bach in the Subways,” aimed at introducing more people to Bach’s music. Information on the series is available online at bachinthesubways.com.

Schindler is an award-winning musician. He got a gold medal at the International Piano Recording Competition of Fort Worth and has produced a series of CDs featuring a variety of classical composers.

In the 90-minute concert, he will perform several Bach compositions, including “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” with the church choir. More information is available on the church’s website at vanucc.org.

Osborne said he hopes to fill the church’s 225 seats for the performance.

“It would be nice to have the place packed,” Osborne said. “We think people will really enjoy the music.”

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