Dedication Ceremony Marks New Era

19 December 1999

Archbishop Polding's dream that the Cathedral should have an organ that could "roar like the ocean and be full of sweet dulcet honey" came closer to reality as the new Létourneau Organ was dedicated by Cardinal Edward Bede Clancy, Archbishop of Sydney at St Mary's Cathedral on 19 December 1999.

Peter Kneeshaw, pictured above playing the Festival Toccata by Fletcher, demonstrated the organ's outstanding range of tonal colour and texture. The evening, which was a night of carols and readings was ideal for the organ, primarily designed as an accompanying instrument. The ceremony began with Once in Royal David's City played on the old Sharp organ in the chancel (symbolically passing on the torch to the far superior new instrument). The carol stopped before the descant verse for the dedication of the Létourneau Organ. During the blessing with incense and holy water, Peter Kneeshaw played an improvisation on the carol tune which included opening dissonant organ chords on the Tuba stop heralding the arrival of the instrument, with the interplay between organ and Tuba building up to the inspiring descant verse. It would be hard to imagine that the Cathedral in its history has ever had such a perfect match between choir and organ.

During the evening the three different Cathedral choirs (the Cathedral Choir, the St Mary's Singers, and the Cathedral Girl's Choristers) found that their accompanied pieces, some of which were played by Dominic Moawad, matched the requisite tonal colours of the organ. The softer stops including the wonderful flute and string stops as well as the lighter swell reeds were demonstrated in variations on French carol tunes, and the Tuba stop thrilled the congregation in Fletcher's Festival Toccata which was the postlude.