The Bruton Organ
Our 3-manual, 45-rank pipe organ was built by Dobson Pipe Organ Builders, Ltd. in Lake City, Iowa and installed in 2019. It can be heard regularly both in worship services and Candlelight Concerts.
Read more about the instrument here and see its specifications here.
Click here for photographs taken from the beginning of the building process at Dobson Organ Builders in Iowa through delivery and installation.
The Eric Herz Harpsichord,
Opus No. 423, Fecit 1985
The Bruton Parish harpsichord was purchased in honor of James Darling, Choirmaster/Organist Emeritus, upon his retirement in 2006. It replaces a William Dowd instrument, which was on a generous loan from Colonial Williamsburg. Eric Herz, a late Bostonian builder, completed the current instrument in 1985 in the style of 18th-century English harpsichords. It has two manuals, with one 4' and two 8' stops, and the keyboards play either at modern or baroque pitch. The unusual lute stop, similar to the French nasale, is available on the upper keyboard, and the more traditional harp buffing stop can be engaged on either manual.
Steinway B Piano
In January of 2010 Bruton Parish purchased a newly-rebuilt SteinwayB grand piano for the Parish, thanks to a generous grant from the E.K. Sloane Fund of the Hampton Roads Community Foundation and a bequest from a former choir member, John Matherne. It is used for occasional concerts, community events, and parish gatherings.
Wren Chapel Organ
Unknown Builder, c.1740
The organ in the Wren Chapel was built in England for Kimberly Hall in Norwich, England.
Old English organs were not as large, nor were they as brilliantly voiced as their counterparts on the European continent. The English seemed to have preferred a gentler sound with accents on flute stops, which might be termed rococo.
The instrument is on loan to the College from the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. If was installed in the Wren Chapel in 1970, and may be heard in weekly Saturday morning historical organ recitals.