FRENCH ROMANTIC ORGAN

Builder: Grönlunds Orgelbyggeri AB, Luulaja / Gammelstad,
Sweden, 2007

The Sibelius Hall congress and concert centre was completed in 2000.
Space for a 52-stop organ was reserved in the Main Hall at construction time, and, as the finishing touch to the Main Hall and the concert centre, the organ was completed in spring 2007.
There are approximately 60 active culture halls in Finland, but previously only Finlandia Hall had boasted a concert-hall organ.

The organ for Sibelius Hall was built in the French Romantic style, and its majestic, full-bodied sound is enriched by the hall's excellent acoustic characteristics. The organ is suitable for both orchestral and solo performances.

Size of the organ:

● Height: 13 m, width: 10 m, depth: 3 m
● Only some of the pipes are visible from the façade, and all machinery is hidden in the organ case

Registers etc.:

● 52 stops – each stop is equivalent to one ‘instrument voice’ inside the organ
● A range of stops including lots of dark colours and mellow tone scales
● Stops named to describe the voice they produce, such as clarinet or oboe
● 5 special effects: birdsong, cymbelstern, tromba, xylophone, and rain machine (the only one in Finland)
● 3 manuals

The pipes:

● The organ has approximately 4,500 pipes.
● The metal pipes are of an alloy of lead and tin.
● The wooden pipes are made from high-quality Nordic pine.
● Some of the pipes are square conic and some cylindrical.  
● The largest pipe is a 9.5 meters high and 60 cm wide wooden chamber;
   the smallest is less than a 1 cm long metal pipe.

General information about the organ:

● The history of the organ stretches back more than 2,000 years, but the first organs as we
   know them today were built into churches in the 14th century.
● Of all musical instruments, the organ has the widest register and sound range.
● Organs generate the sound by means of wind pipes that are controlled by a number of keyboards (manuals).
● Because of their great size, organs are usually fixed instruments that are designed and constructed specifically for each venue, taking into consideration the acoustic and architectural factors of the hall.
● The organ is built into an organ case, which both protects the pipes and the machinery and shapes the sound.
● The façade of the organ is often beautifully decorated with both functional and decorative pipes, and other ornamentation.

Procurement, financing, and construction of the organ:

● Since 1998, the financing of the organ project was the responsibility of the non-profit association Pro Organo Pleno (‘For Full Organ’), chaired by attorney-at-law Paula-Kurki Suonio. From 2002 to 2007, the project was managed by an EU project headed by diploma organist Erkki Krohn.
● The price was 1.2 million euros.
● The construction of the organ was submitted to tender within the region of the EU in 2004.
The contract was won by Swedish organ workshop Grönlunds Orgelbyggeri AB, whose current owners are third-generation organ-builders.
● Other organs built by Grönlunds Orgelbyggeri AB can be found, for instance, in Sweden – in the Stockholm Concert Hall and the German church – and at St Michael's Church in Turku, Finland.
● The pipes were hand-made at the organ workshop, as were all wooden parts, the keyboard, and the consoles.
● The workshop stage of the construction process took two years and employed 19 professionals.
● The façade of the organ was designed by architect Ulf Oldaeus in collaboration with Sibelius Hall architects Kimmo Lintula and Hannu Tikka.
● The construction stage was supervised by organist Hans-Ola Ericsson.
● The organ was voiced and tuned by Andreas Krischer.
● The organ is owned by the City of Lahti and managed and maintained by Lahden Sibeliustalo Oy.