Organ to be rededicated

David Higgs always knew he wanted to perform on the organ. From the time he was three years old, he would come home after church and pretend to play an organ using his mother’s couch.

Now Higgs is a professional organ performer and will perform the concert for the rededication of the Earnest Skinner organ in Aalfs Auditorium tonight at 7:30 p.m.

Higgs said he will be playing music from the early 20th century, as well as music by Bach.

“It’ll be a solo concert with me playing the organ,” Higgs said. “I will be operating the console, the keyboard and the pedal board to operate all of the pipes. Each pipe has a different sound to it, so it’s almost like an orchestra, using all of the different combinations with the pipes. I’ll be playing music that fits the time that the organ was built.”

Junior Wyatt Smith, an organ major, said he is excited for Higgs to perform at the University of South Dakota.

“I get to practice and take my lessons on the restored organ so I know it quite well,” Smith said. “Higgs is a marvelous performer and teacher. We’re very excited to have him here. He’s one of the top performers on the organ in the country.”

Larry Schou, dean of the College of Fine Arts, said he chose Higgs as the performer for the concert.

“(Higgs) is one of the most renowned organists in the world playing concerts all over,” Schou said. “I’ve known Higgs for 23 years, and I figured he would attract an audience because organists would automatically know his name and want to hear him play.”

Higgs said he grew up in New York which helped his music career get started.

“Growing up in New York, I was exposed to a lot more than I would have been growing up in a different area,” Higgs said. “Being able to hear great music – the opportunity was right there. It gave me a little bit of a head start on things although I already had an early start. I had a church job when I was 10 years old, so I knew that I wanted to perform since I was little.”

Higgs received his degree in organ performance from the Manhattan School of Music. He then studied at the Eastern School of Music where he earned a performance certificate.

His degree has allowed him to travel around the country and perform many concerts, Higgs said.

“I love traveling,” Higgs said. “I know people in almost every city in the United States and many in Europe. I’ve had a chance to see a lot of things. The travel hassles I don’t like at all, but when I’m doing what I’m doing and when I’m with the people in the concerts, I’m having a great time.”

Smith said he has been playing the organ for 10 years and is planning on attending the concert.

“Even if I was still living in Sioux Falls I would have come down,” Smith said.
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“There are a group of organists from Sioux Falls that are actually coming down for the concert to see (Higgs).”

Schou said he hopes people will come to the concert to hear the newly-renovated organ, which he played a major role in.

“(Earnest Skinner) built hundreds of organs,” Schou said. “In the 1960s and 1970s Skinner organs were altered and ours at USD never was, meaning we have an untouched Skinner organ.”

Higgs said he agreed to play at USD because the Skinner organ is a great instrument.

“Earnest Skinner made the highest quality of organs so it will be a really fine instrument.”

Since the Skinner organ in Aalfs Auditorium remained untouched, Schou said he wanted to renovate the organ, not restore it.

“We could have restored the organ, but I did not want to because that would mean putting it back to what it was in 1925,” Schou said. “Our organ couldn’t play contemporary music that was written after 1900. That’s why I wanted a renovation as opposed to a restoration. I wanted to keep the sounds that (Skinner) gave us. I wanted new wiring and mechanics.”

This organ model is the highest quality organ built during the time period, Higgs said.

“Hopefully people will be excited from not being able to hear the organ for the last 15 years,” Schou said. “If someone has never heard an organ, this is a great time to come and hear it from a solo artist. For people who have heard an organ before, the newly renovated auditorium does wonderful things for the sound, making it very rich.”

Reach reporter Emily Niebrugge at [email protected]