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Celebrating the pipe organ, the King of Instruments

Pipedreams tours the organs of Oaxaca

Village square at Sinaxtla
Village square at San Andrés Sinaxtla, and the village band playing a greeting to IOHIO visitors (photo: Michael Barone)

THE OAXACAN HISTORIC ORGAN INSTITUTE

In late November of 2001, Michael Barone attended the Festival Internacional de Música para Órgano in Oaxaca, Mexico. The purpose of the festival was to inform, share ideas and celebrate the historically remarkable organs that can be found in Oaxaca. There were tours, concerts and dialogues about the instruments and Michael was there to capture the sights and sounds as they happened. This is a remarkable collection of information about a subsection of the organ world which is not well understood. There is a lot of material here so take your time. Look and listen to the amazing history of the instruments of Oaxaca.

 FROM THE CONFERENCE

Instituto de Órganos Históricos de Oaxaca Letter from the Instituto de Órganos Históricos de Oaxaca
(reprinted from the conference booklet with permission.)

The southeastern state of Oaxaca, Mexico, houses one of the world’s great treasures of historic pipe organs, and so far fifty one instruments, built between approximately 1680-1900, have been located in the state. Six of these have been restored and are now playable (located in San Jerónimo Tlacochahuaya, San Andrés Zautla, Santa María de la Natividad Tamazulapan, the Oaxaca Cathedral, Santo Domingo Yanhuitlán, and La Basílica de la Soledad) and a seventh restoration (Santa María de la Asunción Tlaxiaco) is in process. more

OAXACA PROTOCOL 2001
Summary of Principles for the Conservation and Restoration of Organs in Latin America.

RESTORED ORGANS:
LA BASÍLICA DE LA SOLEDAD
Oaxaca City
Date of Construction: Case - 1686, Organ c. 18th century.
Restored: 1997 by Pieter Visser with assistance of Ignacio Zapata (Gustavo Delgado para and Ofelia Gomez Castellanos, consultants)

CATHEDRAL
Oaxaca City
Date of Construction: 1788
Restored: 1997 by Susan Tattershall

SAN JERÓNIMO TLACOCHAHUAYA
Valles Centrales, Oaxaca
Date of Construction: unknown, possibly in the 17th century
Restored: 1991 by Susan Tattershall

 

 
 CREDITS

Host and Senior Producer: Michael Barone
Associate Producer: Brad Althoff
Web Producer: Preston Wright
Web Research: Robin Johnson

 

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