Published on September 12th, 2022
Integrated Organ Technologies, Inc, proudly announces the completion of the installation of its Virtuoso control system for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the organs in both the Tabernacle and the Conference Center at Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah. These instruments are used for daily concerts and weekly live broadcasts that reach millions of listeners around the globe. The Virtuoso system handles all aspects of the organs' combination action, couplers, and switching in one compact, integrated package.
The 5-manual, 206-rank Aeolian-Skinner organ in the Salt Lake Tabernacle is one of the most recognized organs in the world as the centerpiece of the weekly live broadcast, Music and The Spoken Word, which has been broadcast weekly since 1929. The original organ was installed in 1867 and has been expanded and rebuilt several times over the past 150 years by craftsmen from Kimball, Austin, Aeolian-Skinner, Schoenstein, and others. The 5-manual, 130-rank Schoenstein organ in the Conference Center is a much newer instrument, having been completed in 2003. The Conference Center is a massive space with seating for 21,000 people. Such a large space presented significant challenges for Schoenstein and required many creative features in the organ and its control system. The lOTI team, including Dwight Jones, Sean O'Donnell, and Christopher Soer, worked on-site with Louis Paterson and Chris Hanford of Schoenstein and Temple Square Organ Curator Robert Poll to install the new Virtuoso control system. "The Tabernalce organ is really a world heritage instrument," said Poll. "We have a special responsibility to those who came before us to continue to maintain and enhance this marvelous instrument."