St. Peter’s Episcopal Church is holding an organ recital at 7 p.m. Friday, May 5, at the church on 10 Mill Street in Cazenovia. The recital will feature organist Glenn Kime, who is the organist at Colgate University, and director of music for May Memorial Universalist Society.
The concert is open to the public and free of charge.
The recital will be the first public performance on the church’s newly-renovated organ, and will celebrate both the restoration of the organ and the church’s historic sanctuary. The program will include works by J.S. Bach, Vivaldi, Bohm, Mendelssohn and Craig Philips.
Over the past five years, St. Peter’s has executed a complete renovation of its historic sanctuary. The church sanctuary dates to 1848, and is a quintessential example of American Gothic Revival. Its design is attributed to Richard Upjohn, a master Gothic Revival church architect. The church is a contributing structure to the Village of Cazenovia National Register of Historic Sites listing.
The restoration of the church began with shoring up the structure, with work on the foundation and floor joists performed by Cazenovia contractor Leonard Riedl. The sanctuary was then stabilized by tie rods across the nave, installed by Woodford Brothers of Apulia Station. This structural work was undertaken after architects and engineers advised the church’s vestry that the building was moving, and that the structural work was necessary to keep the building intact.
After the structural work was complete, the cedar shake roof over the sanctuary was replaced, again by Woodford Brothers. The replacement of the roof was supported in part by a grant from the Sacred Sites program of the New York Landmarks Conservancy. The replacement of the sanctuary roof was only a part of extensive work on nine different roof systems at the church property.
The church also removed, refurbished and replaced its stained glass windows, which were originally fabricated in the 1930s in Los Angeles, Calif., at the Judson Studios. The altar window was removed and shipped to Winona, Minn., for restoration by Willet-Hauser Architectural Glass. The remaining windows were removed and restored by Brennan Stained Glass Studio in Syracuse. All of the windows now have a glass storm window over them, protecting the stained glass windows from the elements.
The exterior of the sanctuary was repainted by Mike DeWan of Cazenovia. During this past winter, the interior of the sanctuary, including eight sets of Scripture along the sides of the nave in Old English font, and the nave ceiling which rises to a height of over 30 feet, was repainted by Salt Point Services of Cazenovia. Substantial water damage, incurred during the years that the roof was not in good repair, was repaired as part of the painting of the interior of the sanctuary. Along with repainting the sanctuary, the church installed a new wooden altar backdrop and brass altar cross returning to the appearance the church had in the 19th century.
The final touch on the project was work on the church’s organ. The current organ dates back over 130 years; it was extensively rebuilt in the 1950s by the Schlicker Organ Company of Buffalo. The current work, performed by Kerner & Merchant of East Syracuse, has repaired water damage to the pipes, and included a complete rebuilding of the organ console to bring it into the digital era.
“I am thrilled with the rebuilt organ and pleased that it will be shared with the public at the May 5 recital,” said St. Peter’s Music Director Ida Trebicka, a professor of music at Syracuse University. “We are fortunate that Glenn Kime has agreed to perform.”
Trebicka said she hopes the organ will be regularly used for public performance.
In addition to the Sacred Sites grant, the majority of the work was funded by funds raised from parishioners in a capital campaign to celebrate the upcoming 175th anniversary of the parish in 2019. The capital campaign and the renovation work were undertaken under the leadership of the Very Reverend Jeanne M. Hansknecht, who was called to St. Peter’s in 2014.
While the sanctuary was being painted, the congregation gathered for worship in the Parish Hall. Easter Sunday was the congregation’s first service in the sanctuary since the end of January.
“Having spent the entirety of Lent with the Sanctuary off limits added to the significance of being able to enter the space for the first time on Easter morning,” said Hansknecht. “Signs of resurrection were all around us, sparking a renewed commitment to our mission and ministry in this community. I am in awe of the amount of work the church has completed in recent years, and hope the public will come join the congregation in celebrating on May 5 for the organ recital.”
