Tag Archives: Mighty Wurlitzer Organ

Public Museum finishes 2018 organ concert series with holiday shows

December 10, 2018Entertainment1928 Mighty Wurlitzer Theater Organ, Grand Rapids Public Museum, Lance Luce, Mighty Wurlitzer Organ, Mighty Wurlitzer Organ ConcertsJoanne

By Christie Bender

Grand Rapids Public Museum

Join the Grand Rapids Public Museum (GRPM) for the final 2018 Mighty Wurlitzer Organ Concerts with special holiday music performances by Lance Luce on Friday, Dec. 21 and Saturday, Dec 22.

Luce will present holiday cheer this season bringing to life favorite holiday songs on the GRPM’s 1928 Mighty Wurlitzer Theater Organ. His performance will include White Christmas, Silver Bells, Winter Wonderland, Let it Snow, The Christmas Song, Sleigh Ride, Brazilian Sleigh Bells, Mary’s Little Boy Child and other carols.

These concerts are great for families during the holiday season! Tickets are recommended to be purchased early, as they are likely to sell out.

Lance Luce is an internationally acclaimed theatre organist, who has played hundreds of concerts all over the United States, Canada, England and Australia. In 2014 he was awarded Organist of the year by the American Theatre Organ Society. Most recently he became the head organist for the Detroit Red Wings at the new Little Caesar’s Arena in Detroit. He has played concerts for numerous chapters of the American Theatre Organ Society and other affiliated theatre organ groups and clubs. He has played for National and regional conventions of the ATOS in the United States and TOSA in Australia.

Shows will be held at 7 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 21, and at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 22, in the Meijer Theater at the GRPM.

Tickets for individual concerts are $8 for Museum member adults, $4 for Museum member children, $10 for non-member adults and $5 for non-member children. Tickets are available by visiting grpm.org/Organ or by calling 616-929-1700.

Grand Rapids Public Museum hosts pizza parlor classics Mighty Wurlitzer Organ concerts

November 9, 2018EntertainmentBrett Valliant, Grand Rapids Public Museum, Mighty Wurlitzer Organ, Roaring 20's Pizza ParlorJoanne

The Grand Rapids Public Museum (GRPM) is hosting Pizza Parlor Classics on the Mighty Wurlitzer Organ Concerts on Nov. 16 and 17, as part of the 2018 Organ Concert Series.

The November concerts will feature Brett Valliant playing classic “pizza parlor” organ music including Maple Leaf Rag, In the Mood, Phantom of the Opera and Rock Around the Clock.

The November concerts will be taking the Wurlitzer Organ back to its roots. The Mighty Wurlitzer Organ spent two decades entertaining customers at the Roaring 20’s Pizza Parlor on 28th Street in Grand Rapids, before it was moved to its current location at the Grand Rapids Public Museum.

Brett Valliant is an American organist who is in high demand for his ability to perform many different genres of music on the instrument he loves. At fifteen, he played his first Wurlitzer and exhibited a natural talent for the popular music loved by fans of the theatre organ. He plays annually for several film festivals including the International Film Festival hosted by the American Film Institute, and has been a featured performer at national conventions of the American Guild of Organists and the American Theatre Organ Society. He has toured extensively as a solo artist, featured soloist with orchestras, and film accompanist abroad and throughout the United States. Critics have defined his performances as “exciting,” “refreshing,” “unorthodox” and “astonishing.”

Shows will be held at 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 16, and at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 17, in the Meijer Theater at the GRPM.

The third and final concert of the series will feature Lance Luce performing holiday songs, which includes favorites such as White Christmas, Silver Bells, and Let it Snow, on Friday, Dec. 21, at 7 p.m. and Saturday, Dec. 22, at 2 p.m.

Grand Rapids Public Museum continues Mighty Wurlitzer Organ concert series

November 13, 2017EntertainmentGrand Rapid Public Museum, Justin Stahl, Mighty Wurlitzer OrganJoanne

Join the Grand Rapids Public Museum (GRPM) for the third installment of the Mighty Wurlitzer Organ concert of the series with performances by Justin Stahl on Nov. 17 and 18 to hear classics from the 20th century.

Justin will perform a variety of well-known melodies beginning in the early 1900s up through the 1990s. Justin has performed for various audiences at the GRPM on the 1928 Mighty Wurlitzer Theater Organ over the years.

Aa native of Beech Grove, Indiana, Justin began playing at age five with the encouragement of his great-grandfather. He was mostly self-taught in piano and organ. His passion for music has reached many venues that have included accompanying for several choral departments, contributing as his church’s music director, playing for community theatre, and serving for nearly fifteen years in the Indiana Army National Guard’s 38th Infantry Division Band.

Stahl has most recently entertained thousands of patrons of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra in the last five productions of their annual Yuletide Celebration, playing the 3/24 Wurlitzer installed at the Hilbert Circle Theatre. Theatre organ has always been a passion of Justin’s and has taken him to performance venues across the country. He was a featured artist at the 59th ATOS Convention held in Indianapolis.

A graduate of Marian University with a Bachelor’s degree in piano performance, Justin presently serves as the director of music for the Horizon Science Academy High School in Columbus, Ohio, while writing choral/instrumental arrangements for several choir departments. His approach and philosophy includes the continued promotion of the theatre organ by using a wide base of musical genres.

Shows will be held at 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 17 and at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 18 in the Meijer Theater at the GRPM.

The final concert of the series will be Holiday Classics on Friday, Dec. 15 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, Dec. 16 at 2 p.m. by John Lauter. This holiday classic is a sellout show, great for the entire family. Tickets are recommended to be purchased early.

Grand Rapids Public Museum hosts special Halloween Mighty Wurlitzer Organ Concerts

October 4, 2017EntertainmentAndrew Rogers, Grand Rapids Public Museum, Mighty Wurlitzer Organ, The Phantom of the OperaJoanne

Join the Grand Rapids Public Museum (GRPM) for special Mighty Wurlitzer Organ concerts of the 2017 series with Andrew Rogers, accompanied by the 1925 horror silent film classic The Phantom of the Opera on Friday, Oct. 13 and Saturday, Oct. 14.

The Phantom of the Opera features Lon Chaney Sr. as the deformed phantom who haunts the Paris Opera house. Rogers will accompany the film on the GRPM’s 1928 Mighty Wurlitzer Theater Organ.

Rogers is a Detroit native. He is an organist at the Michigan Theatre in Ann Arbor and the Detroit Fox, he also scores and performs silent films, and performs concerts throughout the U.S. and internationally. Rogers, a resident of Fenton, Mich., started his musical studies with the accordion. He won local and national competitions by playing transcriptions of classical orchestral music. Rogers graduated with a degree with honors in psychology from Michigan State University. In his time, he earned scholarships from the University of Michigan, which made it possible to travel on two Historic Organ Tours, which were through France, Italy, and Switzerland. In 2003, Rogers was invited to play for a public program in Michigan, which was for Japan’s Foundation for Global Harmony.

Shows will be at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 13, and at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 14, in the Meijer Theater at the Grand Rapids Public Museum, 272 Pearl St. NW.

The third concert of the series will be Theatre Organ Through the Decades performed by Justin Stahl on Friday, Nov. 17, at 7 p.m. and Saturday, Nov. 18, at 2 p.m.

The fourth and final concert of the series will be Holiday Classics on Friday, Dec. 15, at 7 p.m. and Saturday, Dec. 16, at 2 p.m. by John Lauter. This holiday classic is a sellout show, great for the entire family. Tickets are recommended to be purchased early.

Grand Rapids Public Museum announces 2017 Mighty Wurlitzer Organ concert series

September 11, 20173-bottomDave Wickerham, Grand Rapids Public Museum, Mighty Wurlitzer OrganJoanne

Dave Wickerham performs Sept. 15 and 16.

By Christie Bender

Grand Rapids Public Museum

Join the Grand Rapids Public Museum (GRPM) for the first Mighty Wurlitzer Organ concert of the 2017 series with performances by Dave Wickerham on Friday, Sept. 15 and Saturday, Sept. 16.

His performance, “Red White & Blue, An American Music Tribute,” will showcase popular music from the American Songbook, featuring hit tunes by composers such as George Gershwin, Irving Berlin and Cole Porter.

Dave Wickerham began playing the organ at 4 years old. He then began his studies of the instrument at 7 and carried out his formal studies of the classical organ at the University of Arizona. His career of organist has led him travel across the country, as well as across the world. Throughout this career, he has been a Staff Organist at various venues including Organ Stop Pizza Restaurants, Pipes and Pizza and Piper Music Palace, as well as internationally for the Theatre Organ Society of Australia, touring in Australia and New Zealand. Dave and his family currently live in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where Dave holds the position of Co-Manager and Organist in Residence at the historic Crystal Theatre in Crystal Falls.

Shows will be held at 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 15 and at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 16 in the Meijer Theater at the GRPM.

The second concert of the series will be Musical Scores to the Silent Film “Phantom of the Opera” performed by Andrew Rogers on Friday, Oct. 13 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, October 14 at 2 p.m.

The third concert of the series will be “Theatre Organ Through the Decades” performed by Justin Stahl on Friday, Nov. 17 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, Nov. 18 at 2 p.m.

The fourth and final concert of the series will be Holiday Classics on Friday, December 15 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, December 16 at 2 p.m. by John Lauter. This holiday classic is a sellout show, great for the entire family. Tickets are recommended to be purchased early.

The Mighty Wurlitzer Organ

The Wurlitzer Company of North Tonawanda, New York, manufactured and shipped Opus #1836, a “3 manual special”, to the Stanley Theater of Jersey City, New Jersey, on February 9, 1928. The Mighty Wurlitzer Organ spent two decades entertaining customers at the Roaring 20’s Pizza Parlor on 28^th Street in Grand Rapids, before it was moved to its current location at the Grand Rapids Public Museum.

Public Museum kicks off organ series with a ‘spooky’ twist

October 6, 20163-bottom, Citizen JournalismBuster Keaton, Grand Rapids Public Museum, Halloween, Mighty Wurlitzer Organ, organ, silent film, The Haunted HouseJoanne

Join the Grand Rapids Public Museum for the first Mighty Wurlitzer Organ Concert of the 2016 series with performances by Scott Smith on Friday, Oct. 14 and Saturday, Oct. 15. Titled “Fall, Fun and Flicks,” Smith will play a variety of genres including a special spooky twist.

Just in time for Halloween, Smith’s performance on the Mighty Wurlitzer Organ will be accompanied by the short, 20-minute silent film “The Haunted House” starring Buster Keaton. Other selections will be a patchwork of eras and genres.

Born and raised in Lansing, Michigan, Smith began performing on the Barton organ as a teenager at the old Michigan Theatre. While the theater was demolished in 1980, Smith, who at the time was seventeen, saved and restored the organ. He later opened his own business, Scott Smith Pipe Organs, LLC, a full-service pipe organ business that restores both church and classical pipe organs. Today, Smith performs many concerts accompanying silent films, gives lectures on the history of pipe organs, and has published several articles in various pipe organ journals.

Shows will be held at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 14, and at 2 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 15, in the Meijer Theater at the GRPM.

Tickets for individual concerts are $10/general, $8/Museum members and $5/children 17 and under. Tickets bought in blocks of 10 or more are $8 each. Season Ticket packages are $50 each for the general public and $45 for Museum members. Tickets are available by visiting www.grpm.org/Organ or by calling 616.456.3977.

The second concert of the series will be “Broadway to Big Band” performed by Lance Luce on Friday, Nov. 18, at 7 p.m. and Saturday, Nov.19, at 2 p.m. Luce’s performance will include a variety of musical styles.

The third and final concert of the series will be Holiday Classics on Friday, Dec. 16, at 7 p.m. and Saturday, Dec. 17, at 2 p.m. by Dave Wickerham. This holiday classic is a sellout show, great for the entire family. Tickets are recommended to be purchased early.

The Mighty Wurlitzer Organ

The Wurlitzer Company of North Tonawanda, New York, manufactured and shipped Opus #1836, a “3 manual special,” to the Stanley Theater of Jersey City, New Jersey, on Feb. 9, 1928. The Mighty Wurlitzer Organ spent two decades entertaining customers at the Roaring 20’s Pizza Parlor on 28^th Street in Grand Rapids, before it was moved to its current location at the Grand Rapids Public Museum.

The Grand Rapids Public Museum is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, with its main location in downtown Grand Rapids, MI at 272 Pearl Street, NW. For additional information including hours of operation, admission fees and exhibit/event listings, please visit www.grpm.org.