St. Anne's Organ
St. Anne Episcopal Church has a long established and impactful music ministry, which serves as a solid plank in our mission to bring people closer to God. The Episcopal tradition includes music as an integral part of its worship service, and as such, music has been and continues to be an important part of the liturgy at St. Anne.
Parishioners began collecting pipes for an organ even before they had a church building in which to put them. The collection grew for over 15 years and numbered over 1,500 pipes. The intial pipes were recycled from three churches in the Cincinnati area. St. Anne parishioners disassembled and removed the pipes for storage, often in their own basements.
In 1995, dedicated parishioners built a working pipe organ, using only a fraction of the pipes in its collection. The organ has been in continuous use since then. In 1999, an organ committee was formed to investigate and select a quality organ builder that would share the vision for the organ and honor the work that had been accomplished. They asked Dr. Bryan Mock, Director of Music and Organist at Christ Church in Glendale, Ohio, to consult on a vision and specification for the instrument.
In 1998, the people of St. Anne selected organ builder Larry Stofer to restore and rebuild the instrument. Artistically revoicing and adding pipes, Larry created a three-manual instrument of four divisions and 25 ranks. The organ was completed and formally dedicated in 2004.
The English-style instrument is designed to accompany the choirs and hymn singing of the congregation, which providing a considerable array of stops for the performance of a wide variety of organ literature.