Ortloff Organ Company, LLC
Opus 5, 2028

from builder website:
We are thrilled to announce the signing of a contract with Episcopal High School of Houston to build the chancel organ for the school’s new chapel, slated to be finished in 2026. This organ, with 30 stops and 36 ranks, will be our largest to date.

The 1,100-seat Romanesque building, in traditional cruciform shape, will serve the school’s daily chapel needs, as well as smaller, more intimate services, such as weekly evensong. The school’s fine choir, under the gifted direction of Garmon Ashby, will sing from both gallery and chancel.

Our new organ will serve as the complement to Skinner Opus 819, originally from Temple Methodist Church in San Francisco, which is being restored and installed in the gallery by our colleagues at Foley-Baker, Inc. Two four-manual consoles, one in the gallery by FBI, and one in the chancel from our shop, will each control both organs.

The chancel organ, while helping the gallery organ fill the room when all 1,100 seats are filled, will be the main accompanimental instrument for services in the chancel. The tonal design reflects this, with particular thought being given to anthem and psalm accompaniment. The chancel organ also provides some voices and effects not present in the gallery organ, such as a complete 16-8-4 reed chorus on the Great.

Along with Foley-Baker, we are working with Studio Red, architects and Threshold Acoustics to provide the best possible physical environment for the two organs, and the best possible acoustical environment for organ and choral music. Terry Eason is the chapel’s liturgical designer, and is also designing cases for both organs.

We are excited to be partnering with an institution that is so committed to the spiritual growth of young people, and are delighted that our instrument there will be central in the formation of thousands of young people’s musical and spiritual lives for generations to come.