Earlier this week, the University of Alberta announced it will be relocating a historic pipe organ and war memorial from its Faculty of Arts Convocation Hall to a church south of Lethbridge. The announcement has been met with resistance from advocates who say removing the organ is like moving a headstone from a grave. “There were 238 fallen soldiers from two wars that are memorialized on plaques, and they chose a living, breathing instrument to honour those people,” said U of A alum and organist Tammy-Jo Mortensen. “They seem to be taking the gravestone and the grave and separating them. The Casavant Opus 3358 was installed in the hall in 1978 and is estimated to cost about $3 million. As the university prepares to renovate the Convocation Hall, it looked to rehome the colossal instrument to make space for 20 accessible seats in the upper level of the hall. Soon, the organ will be dismantled and stored while the Netherlands Reformed Congregation of Picture Butte constructs a new church. Rev. Evert Adams said the congregation’s building committee is currently in the planning stage where they are applying for permits and seeking engineers. “The Lord willing, before we would begin building the sanctuary, would likely be the spring of next year,” Adams told CTV News Edmonton. The reverend said the congregation has ties to the Second World War as many of their people immigrated to Canada from the Netherlands around that time. “Canada had a special place in liberating the Netherlands, so in that respect, we have a special connection to the war.” The university intends on keeping the memorial plaque in Edmonton and designing a new monument on campus replacing the organ. No details of a design have been released. “The Convocation Hall is a public, non-denominational place of gathering to hear an organ that was designed to be in concert as the voice of memorial for those soldiers,” said pianist and U of A alum Haley Simons. “The premise that accessibility was the rationale renders it somewhat ironically virtually inaccessible to everyone … The juxtaposition is actually rather obscene.” Advocates are concerned future musicians and organists won’t be able to use the organ upon its removal, as it will be the congregation’s discretion to allow its use for scholarly research purposes. “The choral department has used that instrument lots. I’ve played it three or four times just in the last year,” said Mortensen. “Even though there is no organ department anymore, it’s still being used.” While the organ won’t be easily accessible to students and faculty, seeing as Picture Butte is nearly 500 kilometres south of Edmonton, Adams says its music will be played and enjoyed by the congregation’s some-1,000 members. “We have among our young people that are talented organists, so that means, the Lord willing, we should have organists,” said Adams. “When you have a beautiful organ, you need talented people to play it, right?” No date has been set for the organ’s dismantling and relocation. Mortensen, Simons and former board member of the Edmonton Heritage Council, Andy Garbia, have launched a campaign “Unite for the Pipes,” in an effort to keep the organ at the university. With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Curtis Goodrum
