About the Organ

The Kotzschmar Organ was a gift to the City of Portland, Maine, by publishing magnate Cyrus Curtis. Built by the Austin Organ Company of Hartford, Connecticut, it was the second largest organ in the world when it was installed in Portland City Hall Auditorium in 1912.

The first Municipal Organist was Will Macfarlane and over the years, the organ attracted thousands of people weekly to hear free concerts. Nine outstanding organists followed Macfarlane, the latest being Ray Cornils, appointed in 1990. In 1981, a financially stricken City of Portland ended its modest funding of the Kotzschmar which had fallen into a state of decay and disrepair.

This resulted in the formation of the Friends of the Kotzschmar Organ (FOKO) and, with the Portland City Council's blessing, FOKO took on the burden of raising funds, presenting concerts and engaging the services of the Municipal Organist. Since its founding, FOKO has been responsible for raising over $400,000 towards the restoration of the organ which was accomplished by David Wallace, Curator from 1981 until 1998, and Austin Organs, Inc.

The original organ of 1912 was enlarged in 1927 by the Austin Organ Company and funded again by Cyrus H. K. Curtis. At this time the Antiphonal Organ was added, as well as a large number of ranks to the Swell division and a number of percussion stops.

During a massive renovation project of the auditorium in the 1990's, a new and enlarged wind chest was constructed, making possible the reinstallation of a 32' Magnaton and a 32' Bombard, both lost to damage or lack of room during the auditorium's 1968 renovation.

The most recent restoration of the organ took place in October of 2000, when Austin Organs, Inc. installed a new, custom-designed 5-manual console for the organ. This state-of-the art console was made possible by major gifts from Anita and Charles Stickney, Sally and Malcolm White, a grant from the Theodore Presser Foundation, and many other individual donors.

In January 2003 the organ was once again enlarged by the addition of a Mixture IV to the Great division. These additional 244 pipes were a gift to the City of Portland by Mrs. Marjory Berman in memory of her late husband.

Organ enthusiasts can now enjoy a newly refurbished Kotzschmar Memorial Organ which boasts 102 ranks, 6,862 pipes in eight divisions: Swell, Great, Solo, Orchestral, Antiphonal, Echo, Pedal and Percussion. The Echo and Antiphonal divisions can be heard emanating from the large grid in the ceiling near the rear of Merrill Auditorium.

A typical FOKO season consists of our silent movie nights at Halloween and Valentine's Day, the very popular Christmas with Cornils, Johann Sebastian Bach's birthday bash in March and a major concert by a world-renown organist in our Music from the World's Great Cathedral Series each spring. The summer concert series begin in mid-June and include a Tuesday Classics Series and a Thursday Pops Series. They bring to Portland some of the world's great concert organists as well as organ lovers from near and far.

Ray Cornils is the 10th Municipal Organist for the City of Portland, Robert Faucher is the Curator, Harold Stover is President of FOKO, Russell Burleigh is Executive Director and Gillian Britt is the Public Relations Consultant.

The 2006-2007 FOKO Board of Directors include: John Bishop, Lois Carlson, Chester Cooke, Nancy Wines-DeWan, Donald Doele (president), John Fossett, Linda Gouws, Terrie Harman (vice president),Peter Haynes, Roy Ingraham (treasurer), Samuel Jones, Richard Kurtz, Bruce Lockwood, Albert Melton, Charles Orem, Robert Packard, Peter Plumb (clerk), Tonya Robles, Laurence Rubinstein, James Strand and John Wilcox. Advisory Board of Directors include: Linda Abromson, Richard Bowman, Russell I. Burleigh, Malcolm Cass, Robert Crane, Stephen Garvin, Myron Hager, Sue Johnson, Robert Lee, Wayne Lockwood, William McCullough, Robert Miller, Jeremiah Newbury, Janice Parkinson-Tucker, Stewart Shuster, Michael Stairs ,Harold Stover, David Wallace, John Weaver and John York.