St. Jude's Anglican Church is located near the shore of Lake Ontario in the historic, picturesque city of Oakville, west of Toronto.
The organ committee, headed up by Allan Smith, decided on a Phoenix PD 373, a three manual, with 73 stops, 24 audio channels, 4 specifications, Choir to Antiphonal and Horizontal Trumpet, which plays both front and antiphonal. The installation also includes a single manual Gallery Organ for accompanying the choir from the gallery location. This Positif plays stops either in the gallery or through the main speakers at the front of the Nave by wireless MIDI. The main console is fitted with a built-in, tubular steel framed console dollie with non-marking wheels on the console and pedal board.
The Harris Precision made drawknobs are in Pau Ferro exotic wood with domed ivory inserts. The keyboards were built by Laukhuff in Germany and have faux ivory key tops with ebony sharps.
For amplification, we used Lab Gruppen high powered amplifiers and Phoenix bi-pole designed AcoustiCubes Speakers.
As you can see in the pictures of the previous organ installation, the speakers were mounted on the walls on wither side of the Nave, directly above the choir seating and covering part of the tops of the fancy keying around the Gothic windows. The sound blasted the choir and did not get to the back of the church without using a very full organ sound. We decided to remedy that problem by installing the speakers in specially designed chambers mounted much higher above the windows and between the hammer beams. Gothic arched enclosures with quatrefoils were built to house the speakers and blend with the interior of the historic building. The result is not only aesthetically pleasing, but allows the organ to speak beautifully down the Nave. Some speakers were located in the present old pipe chamber and two AcoustiCubes of the Great Division were installed high in the rafters, providing a spread of sound that cannot be pin-pointed when sitting in the congregation. For more on the AcoustiCube speakers from Phoenix Organs, please see the speakers section of our website.
Director of Music Simon Walker and Assistant Organist AndreStreliaev have a very busy music program at St. Jude's and the organ plays an important role in the musical life of the parish.
A short demonstration of the French Specification of the St. Jude's Organ.
| play mp3 |
Click any image to launch photo gallery
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
