A tricentennial organ for Trinity Church
Trinity Church has been a beacon on the Newport horizon for the past 299 years, a prominent landmark for mariners, and is the oldest surviving church building in Newport. Countless people have worshipped in our historic building, and the Church is still a center for present day worship services– both on Sundays, and for the many passages in people’s lives that are observed with corporate worship – baptisms, weddings and funerals. In many ways, our organ is the voice of the Parish.
The organ in Trinity Church has the distinction of being the first organ shipped to America from Europe intended for use in church services. (New England Puritans were not fond of organs, calling them “the Devil’s box of whistles!”) Bishop George Berkeley commissioned the noted London organbuilder Richard Bridge to build our instrument, and sent it as a gift to the Trinity Congregation in 1733. Although the organ has been enlarged and rebuilt many times over 300 years, we retain the original wooden case, the three carved crowns which adorn the façade, and a few dozen original pipes.
The organ was constantly rebuilt in the 19th & 20th C
1846 – Henry Erben
1880 – Hook and Hastings
1902 – rebuilt, enlarged, electrified by Hook and Hastings
1929 – new organ, E.M. Skinner
1972 – mostly new organ – Wicks
The current organ is an unhappy marriage of pipes from 1929 and 1972, along with many electronic voices and a console we bought second-hand in 2002 as a stop-gap measure. This instrument was never satisfactory, and continual electrical problems have created havoc when the organ will not play. We endured several services without any organ in Spring of 2024, and a recent electronic failure during the week leading up to Easter of 2025 was hair-raising.
In the summer of 2024 an Organ Committee was established to explore the idea of replacing the current organ. Six interested members of the Congregation and Choir volunteered to work together. Over the past nine months we have visited 10 examples of instruments from five noted American builders, and invited these organbuilders to visit Trinity to help us imagine the ideal organ that can meet our needs. To date we have received pledges of support for $749,000 from 30 choir members and interested friends of music.
The most attractive bid we received is from the Fisk Organ Co of Gloucester MA – whose estimated cost is 1.5 million dollars. Because of a cancelled contract from a church in London, Fisk Organ Co could begin building our organ in the Fall of 2025, and deliver it for installation in the Fall of 2026, in the midst of our 300th Anniversary Year. The final voicing would be finished for Easter of 2027. (Other builders could not deliver until 2028 - 2030). We would love to celebrate our next hundred years with a new instrument as carefully and beautifully constructed as our historic church building. Such an organ would be used in Sunday Worship, and for the celebrations of life for the many Newporters whose families have called Trinity their Church home for centuries. The new organ will certainly be a major enhancement for our all-encompassing community concert series.
Please consider supporting our dream for a new organ for the 300th
You make a one time pledge, or spread donations over three years, 2025, ‘26 and ‘27.
You may send a check to the church at:
One Queen Anne Sq
Newport RI 02840
Or use the QR code below.
Please feel free to reach out with any questions.
Sincerely,
L. Frederick Jodry V
Co-Music Director
cell: 401-862-3692
