May 2, 2004

We have the biggest organ.

Just thought I'd brag about Madison, on our freak snow day:
[T]he 2,000-plus seat Overture Hall ... [will house] the Madison Symphony Orchestra's custom-made pipe organ. ... [I]t is the heaviest moveable object in any theater in the world. The Pleasant Rowland Concert Organ ... fits within a steel-wheeled chamber that, together with the instrument, weighs in at about 150 tons. It moves forward and backward on railroad-like tracks at a rate of one foot per minute, allowing it to be hidden away during non-symphonic events. ... The presence of a massive concert organ will swell the symphony's repertoire by more than 300 works. It will also lend a living, breathing presence to Overture Hall. Get ready, audiences: With more than 4,000 wood and steel pipes vibrating that rarefied air, these classical concerts will blow your hair back.

So get your massive, swelling organ jokes ready and prepare to experience heavy metal classical music.