Untangled at last.

    Those that remember my very first blogpost would know that I wrote about Dark Chocolate and the Pipe Organ. More specifically, I wrote about the Wanamaker Grand Court organ. I have not been writing regularly as I have been wrestling with writer's block of sorts. Today however, the 22nd of March 2025, is a day of celebration of the John Wanamaker Grand Court Organ. I chanced across a post to the celebrations being livestreamed and I was immediately transported to a younger self. During the pandemic, I would fall deeply in love with this particular instrument due to a livestreamed concert on the 23rd of June 2021, with the incomparable Peter Richard Conte himself at the console. To the maestro it may have been just another one of his usual noontime recitals, but it was transformative for me. I still remember how enchanted I was. I joined into the livestream hoping to try and relive that and I could not be happier I did.

    This entire day of celebrations started at 9am (EDT) with Mr. Conte playing the National Anthem of the United States of America and the concert programmes happen every hour from 10am - 5pm (EDT). You will notice that I am using the present tense. I am writing this while the concert is happening! I took notes when the 10am concert took place, and I refine my writing while listening to the 11am concert. I do not intend to report on all the concerts, especially since the organisers are making the livestream private as soon as the concert is over. Yes. That means that the three hundred-odd people that tuned in got the truly live experience of something so historic. I however will share a little bit of something that is now so exclusive.

    The organist at 10am (EDT) was Aaron Patterson, an assistant at the Grand Court since 2017. A native of Philadelphia and a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and the Juilliard School, Aaron is currently music director at Cresheim Valley Church. Before the music, the management announced that,

1.  They would be making sure the organ gets enough 'rest' between the hourly concerts
2. This Organ is not going anywhere. Even with the Macy's store where it resides shutting down, the organ will live on.

The music was truly excellent as well! The opener was a piece by J. S. Bach (Of course it was). The one after was "I See the Light" by Alan Menken, from the movie Tangled (2010) and it was truly inspiring to see something so contemporary on an instrument like this. The children that gasped and cheered showed how an organ is not just a dusty church instrument. A song from an animated children's film was the last thing I expected to inspire me to write again but here we are. I did see the light. I heard it in the joy of children's voices. In the thunderous applause and whistling that resounded when the music ended. I cannot wait for what the next hour brings.