Forbes Pipe Organ
A History of the Forbes Pipe Organ
What has long been part of the vision for the Performing Arts Center is now a reality. Harman Hall is home to a magnificent pipe organ built on the same grand scale as the instruments that grace cathedrals and concert halls in the world's largest cities. Designers modified plans for Harman Hall to make room for this "king of instruments," since a pipe organ of this size weighs about 20 tons, and steel reinforcement was needed to support it. Local philanthropists Bert and Candace Forbes made a generous donation to the Foundation for the Performing Arts Center to have the organ built.
The organ was designed by C.B. Fisk in Gloucester, Massachusetts, a world renowned organ builder in the U.S.A., and took about a year to build. In May 2006, it was featured at the Fisk open house and assembled in their warehouse, where it was played by local organists. It was then broken down and loaded into two moving vans for shipment to Cal Poly. In June 2006, the organ's 2,767 pipes were delivered into the eager hands of a crew of enthusiastic "free uploaders," a group of community volunteers who wanted to be a part of this special event. They took the cherished cargo from the vans, carried it into the theater and carefully unwrapped each pipe for installation.
The pipes for the Forbes Pipe Organ were forged by hand from tin/lead sheet metal. The organ's casework was built from mahogany, key coverings made of cow bone and the sharps crafted from ebony. The stop knobs were made from cocobolo, a tropical hardwood similar to rosewood.
Reassembly took Fisk technicians about six weeks. Then for the next nine months, they tuned and voiced the instrument. The result is strikingly beautiful; the Forbes Pipe Organ now resonates with music that is both powerful and stunningly pure. "I am always amazed and delighted at the way the bass pipes grab you and shakes you to your core, causing resonances you didn't even know you had," says Bert Forbes. "This upwelling of response is most remarkable. The organ music fills you entirely - to the exclusion of all other senses."
University Organist Paul Woodring
Paul Woodring specialized in organ performance at Cal State Northridge, studying under Sam Swartz and David Britton. While there, he won several prestigious awards, including first prize in the Western Regional American Guild of Organists Competition. He then studied organ and harpsichord in Vienna under Otto Bruckner and Elfriede Stadlmann.
As an accompanist, Woodring has worked with some of America’s fi nest concert choirs and opera companies, including the Los Angeles Master Chorale, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Los Angeles Opera Company. In the San Luis Obispo area, he has worked with Pacifi c Repertory Opera, Mozart Festival, Central Coast Children’s Choir, Cuesta Master Chorale, Tolosa Strings and several musical theater organizations. Mr. Woodring is currently an accompanist and coach at Cal Poly. He also serves the congregations of Mt. Carmel Lutheran Church as organist and choir director and San Luis Obispo United Methodist church as organist.
