CHAUTAUQUA, N.Y. (AP) - Water from melting snow has damaged one of the world’s largest outdoor pipe organs - the 111-year-old Massey Memorial Organ at the Chautauqua Institution in western New York.
Officials at the summer arts retreat say they hope to have it restored in time for the 2018 season.
The 1907 Massey Memorial Organ is at the heart of the institution’s amphitheater, which was recently rebuilt. President Michael Hill says a routine inspection revealed that a leak from melting snow permeated a protective covering and made its way into the organ’s wooden console and its four ivory keyboards while the unit was stored backstage.
The keyboard will be restored, but the organ’s pipework and other systems were unaffected.
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