Laura and I are playing at the Reed Organ Society's Fall Gathering in Moline, Illinois on October 14, 2011. We're playing at the Butterworth Center (http://www.butterworthcenter.com/) on the 3 manual Bennett-Stannke pipe organ. In 1892, Charles Deere built Butterworth Center a block from his own home, Overlook (now Deere-Wiman House), as a wedding gift for his youngest daughter Katherine and her husband William Butterworth. Over the years, the Butterworths tripled the size of their home, which they named Hillcrest. Included in the additions were two unique features. As part of the 1909 addition to the living room, a pipe organ built by the Bennett Organ Company was installed. Later in 1938, Mrs. Butterworth hired the Stannke Organ Company of Rock Island, Illinois, to perform extensive rebuilding and additions. At that time, the organ was probably one of the largest residential organs in the Midwest. A major restoration of the Bennett-Stannke organ was completed in the spring of 2008 and should sound great on our program which will feature a sonata for Flute and Organ by Handel, Boelmann's Gothic Suite, and will have other pieces suggesting a fall theme.
