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NEWS
This section will be updated from time to time with news and current events about projects and people at Wallace & Co. We publish a newsletter one or more times a year; if you would like to receive it as a paper copy, please e-mail your mailing address to us and we would be happy to add you to our list. Or, you can download it in PDF format here (free Adobe Reader required):
Click here to download our brochure (600 KB).
Wallace & Co. completes small demonstration organ
The instrument was commissioned by Friends of the Kotzschmar Organ, Inc. to use with the "Kotzschmar for Kids" educational program. The program is a multidisciplinary program aimed at 6th graders and involves math, science, music and art. The little organ has a 3 octave keyboard, a 27 note pedal and 5 ranks of pipes. With the exception of a new 4' Principal, all the pipes are from organs by E. & G.G. Hook, Stevens, Hall and Laukhuff. The organ is portable and can be taken apart into two easily transported sections.
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Kotzschmar Junior, as it has been dubbed by the Wallace & Co. crew, was delivered to it’s first educational appointment on January 28th at Mt. Ararat Middle School in Topsham, Maine. The debut presentation will be the first of what we, as the builders, hope will be many over the years. We view the “Kotzschmar of Kids” program as an opportunity to connect with young people to give them an expansion of their studies in a number of subject areas as well as a chance for those of us in our profession to perhaps light a spark that will one day lead a student to a profession in organ building or organ playing.
Wallace & Co. honors our four high school seniors graduating in June 2005
 ANNA PEASE -- Anna has been with the company for three years after coming on board to help with the production of the 67 new stop actions for the Kotzschmar Organ's main airbox. Anna is a talented honor student who stars both as a field hockey and ice hockey player. Anna has several college choices in mind for next year and is presently in the midst of the application process. |
 ERIN WEBSTER -- Erin has also worked in the shop since the Kotzschmar stop action project. Erin was a member of the Gorham High girls soccer team that won the State Soccer title this past fall. During the winter sports season Erin tosses the shot-put on the indoor track team and has qualified for the State championships. This honor student is in the process of college applications with an eye on U. Mass. Amherst. |
 NICK WALLACE -- Nick has worked in the shop most of his life - for some odd reason - and has participated in many projects. Nick was part of the installation crew that went to South Bend, Indiana in 2003. Nick is an honor student who is mastering the guitar and mandolin. He is also an avid skate and snowboarder in his spare time. He is awaiting the results of his college applications and has his eye on University of New Hampshire for next year. |
 EMILY EVERETT -- Emily completed her high school studies in June 2004. Emily was a home-schooler who is also in the midst of the college search. Emily is a very talented figure skater and, like most high school seniors, is not exactly sure what career she will ultimately choose. Emily has become the resident expert in releathering reserviors and bellows in our shop. It might be genetic as her grandfather is also an expert pipe organ technician. |
 Another Pro in the Shop
Our most exciting "people news" of 2004 is the addition to the Wallace staff of another organ-building expert -- one from the United Kingdom, no less. Roy Stephenson, formerly of Bishop & Son, Organ Builders, of Ipswich and London, brings to the Wallace firm nearly two decades of experience in all facets of organ-building -- not to mention his additional years as the administrator of a municipal theater the equal of Portland's Merrill Auditorium. How did we manage to recruit Roy to Portland? Easily: it was his new Maine bride who brought him to our shores.
 A Biggs Grant for Andy
Anton Warde's proposal to mark the 50th anniversary of E. Power Biggs's earliest recordings of historic European organs with a retrospective essay about these "HiFi Adventures" has earned him a Margaret Power Biggs Grant from the AGO Organ Library in Boston. Andy's project, which he hopes to offer for publication later in the year, will draw not only on the resources of the Organ Library but on the reminiscences of Georg Steinmeyer (of the noted German organ-building family), as well. It was Steinmeyer who planned Biggs's itinerary, served as his guide, and even hung the microphones for several of these landmark recordings.
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