After decades of song, the Hook-Rosales pipe organ at Marysville First Presbyterian Church will ring out its final notes.
Before the organ makes its trip to the Episcopal Church in Grass Valley, members of the North Valley Chapter of the American Guild of Organists will present the Final Organ Recital today.
The recital begins at 3 p.m. and is free and open to the public at 1945 Sampson St., Marysville.
Joe McLeod, a longtime member of the First Presbyterian congregation, said the concert will be an opportunity for those who worshipped alongside the historic instrument to hear it one last time, as well as for those who never had a chance to hear its elegance before.
“This will be the last time the organ will be played in this church,” McLeod said. “This will be the last time the community, the city of Marysville will hear this instrument, which has been around a long, long time.”
Participating organists will include First Presbyterian’s own Gail Pfister, John Zenor of First Congregational Church in Oroville, Kevin Anderson of Faith Luthern Church in Chico and David Rothe of St. Johnas Episcopal Church and St. Johnas Catholic Church in Chico.
Included on the program will be music by Johann Sebastian Bach, Felix Mendelssohn, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Johannes Brahms.
The Presbyterian congregation – organized in Marysville in the mid-19th century and who built the present church in 1950 – announced it was downsizing and would sell the church property.
The original organ was built in 1869 in Boston and shipped around the horn to San Francisco, then by barge to Marysville, according to Appeal-Democrat archives. The organ still contains some parts from the original and was restored in 1981.
