First Presbyterian Church to dedicate new organ console

Richard Elliott, principal organist at the Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake City, Utah, will present an organ dedication concert at 7 p.m. Feb. 24 at First Presbyterian Church on Hilton Head Island, according to a news release.

The concert will dedicate the church’s new organ console built by the A.E. Schlueter Organ Co.

The organ console is one-of-a-kind and the first console of this type built by the company, according to the news release. It has four manuals, 72 ranks — 47 are pipe, and 25 are digital. The organ has also been revoiced, making the full ensemble much cleaner and richer. The Trumpet Enchamade produces a warm tone while still holding the integrity of the stately sound it was intended to create. It is also accompanied by new antiphonal digital voices. The revoicing of the entire instrument combined with the new console has created a cleaner, fuller sound. The new console includes four manuals, 500 lockable memory levels, transposition capability, a record/playback feature and a touch screen.

At the Mormon Tabernacle, Elliott participates in the daily recital series on the 206-rank Aeolian-Skinner organ and accompanies the Mormon Tabernacle Choir on the choir’s weekly radio and TV broadcast, “Music and the Spoken Word.” As accompanist for the Tabernacle Choir, he has performed in many of the world’s great halls and appeared on numerous television and radio programs, including the NBC “Today Show,” the “CBS Morning Show,” “CBS Sunday Morning,” and “A Prairie Home Companion.”

Elliott appears on dozens of recordings and videos with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. He has collaborated with many guest artists including Andrea Bocelli, the Canadian Brass, the King’s Singers, Robert Shaw, James Taylor, and many more. He has recorded CDs and is a published composer and arranger of music for organ and for choir.

The concert at First Presbyterian Church, 540 William Hilton Parkway, is free and open to the public.

For more information, go to www.fpchhi.org or www.mormontabernaclechoir.org.

This story was originally published February 3, 2017 at 10:42 AM with the headline "First Presbyterian Church to dedicate new organ console."