QUINCY, Ill. (AP) - A one-time music store employee and rock musician is the unlikely point man in the renovation of 123-year-old church organ in western Illinois.
The (Quincy) Herald-Whig (https://bit.ly/2ihdTsb) reports that Phil Hoenig is restoring the Unitarian Church’s Steere pipe organ. It’s Quincy’s oldest continually operating organ, though it’s been without key parts that mimic clarinet sounds since the 1970s.
Hoenig taught himself how to repair old organs. The first he worked on had 1,444 pipes. The Unitarian’s has 900.
The Fort Madison, Iowa, man said that after he first saw the all-mechanical pieces of an organ went from thinking “’I want to play rock ’n’ roll to ’I want to be a classic organist and organ builder.’”
The restored organ will be played publicly for the first time on Jan. 22.
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Information from: The Quincy Herald-Whig, https://www.whig.com
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