Restoring Austin, Op. 1074 (1922)

Throughout the past century, the Austin Organ Op. 1074 (1922) has led thousands of liturgies at Grace and St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Baltimore’s Mount Vernon Cultural District. A bastion of Anglo-Catholicism in the Diocese of Maryland, Grace and St. Peter’s offers a choral mass on nearly forty Sundays per year as well as monthly services of Choral Evensong and the observance of major feast days. Its musical repertoire spans five centuries and the breadth of the sacred music canon. Seeking to continue the legacy of great sacred music at Grace and St. Peter’s, an organ committee has contracted the Austin Organ Company to perform a mechanical and tonal renovation of Op. 1074 in celebration of its centennial anniversary.

At present, Op. 1074 is showing the wear of a century’s worth of use. The aging console is now unreliable and dated to the point of obsolescence. Inside the organ, much of the leather is in desperate need of replacement and several mechanical failures are imminent. Additionally many ranks of pipes have been altered or damaged in the name of prevailing aesthetic trends during the last century. Austin Organs will perform a comprehensive restoration which will secure this instrument’s musical life at Grace and St. Peter’s for many generations to come.

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Though a majority of the money needed to complete the restoration has been given by generous people inside the parish, a budget shortfall of $100,000 remains. Please considering sponsoring individual pipes in the organ using the online donation form above (Please put "Forcum Fund" in the comments box). You may also send a check to Grace and St. Peter's at 707 Park Ave., Baltimore, MD 21201 with "Forcum Fund" in the memo line. All donors will be printed in the dedication program book.