Music in the Museum 2007-2008 Concert Series
Cincinnati Museum Center presents the sixth season of Music in the Museum concerts. These concerts feature the outstanding 1929 E.M. Skinner Symphonic Concert Organ in the lush, reverberant acoustics of Cincinnati Museum Center’s Rotunda. All concerts will start at 7:30 p.m. Parking is free. Tickets are $20. Tickets are available for purchase online, by phone (513) 287-7001, or through the Museum Center Box Office. For big savings, buy a season subscription. Ask about our generous discounts for groups of 10 or more. Reserved seating with subscriptions only.
About the E.M. Skinner Concert Organ
The grand E. M. Skinner Concert Pipe Organ is located in the Rotunda of Cincinnati Museum Center near the OMNIMAX Theater. The Rotunda has a reverberation time of approximately five seconds and has been described by Cincinnati Enquirer classical music critic Janelle Gelfand as "an ideal environment for organ."
The main organ was located through the Organ Historical Society and rescued from a church in Philadelphia. Members of the Crosley family and the Franciscan Health Care System provided the E.M. Skinner organ from the former Powel Crosley Jr. residence. Both E. M. Skinner organs were built in 1929, the year the Cincinnati Union Terminal began construction.
The organ is separated into "Divisions," with certain sets of pipes located in each and played mainly from one of the four keyboards or the pedal board. The divisions are hidden behind facades resembling ticket counters toward the back of the Rotunda. Solo, Great and Pedal divisions are located immediately to the left of the concourse, and Choir and Swell divisions immediately to the right. The yet-to-be-completed Antiphonal division will be located near the entrance to the Cincinnati History Museum. With the Antiphonal division, the organ will have over 4,000 pipes.
Cincinnati Museum Center plans to use the organ for periodic concerts and, eventually, for daily use as part of educational programs.
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