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Prospect Street United Methodist Church's Organ Dedication Concert

It is our pleasure to share with you, a recent recording of Rodgers Artist Dan Miller’s Organ Dedication Concert done at the wonderful Prospect St. United Methodist Church in Marion, Ohio. Dan performed on a recently installed Rodgers Infinity Series 361 hybrid organ which was interfaced with the churches existing Schantz pipe organ.

ABOUT PROSPECT STREET UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

Prospect Street United Methodist Church is a quaint red-colored brick building with an honorable history of over 100 years serving the local and surrounding communities of Marion, Ohio. Their pastor is Therese Lehma and organist is Jim Anderson. 

They proudly declare that it is known today as "Your Country Church Downtown" which is Christ-Centered with friendly people who are community focused. There is always room for more people. The People of Our Church: Help people in our community; Accept you for who you are; Offer a place to belong; Care for and support each other; Show respect for other religions; Support people facing difficulty; Welcome diverse opinions and beliefs; Guide others to find deeper meaning. Being a faithful steward of God is about more than just going to church and learning about God.  We are also called to serve.  Prospect Street United Methodist Church serves others by opening our doors to outside ministries and by serving and providing for our local community and people around the world.”

THE PERFECT OPTION

Dan Smith, President of D.K. Smith Pipe Organ Services and premier Rodgers dealer, was responsible for the installation. D.K. Smith Pipe Organ Services’ mission is “To provide a quality alternative to the usual and mundane!”

“The church has a pipe organ built by Schantz. This instrument had been first installed in a church in Columbus in the 1980's. The instrument was then relocated to Prospect street UMC 20 years later and has been serving well since then. The organ console started to show signs of wear and was becoming unreliable. The church investigated the cost of repairs or replacement of the console. Upon the recommendation of a friend of the organist, the musicians took a look at Rodgers and found that the enhanced functionality and increased reliability of the Rodgers organ would be a cost-effective replacement for their existing console. The church chose the Infinity 361 for its complete tonal design complete with the associated couplers, to effectively enlarge and enhance the existing 8 rank pipe organ. The Rodgers Infinity 361 was installed in November of 2016. The interface with the pipes was undertaken during May 2017.”

Mr. Smith, also shares “Dan Miller came to Prospect Street United Methodist Church, to present a workshop for organists and the dedication recital on their new Infinity 361 pipe hybrid instrument. The weekend was a resounding success with 15 attending the workshop and 90 attending the recital. All attendees were favorably impressed with this fine instrument. Dan quickly built a rapport with his audience, his performance was stellar, and he left the audience with a great appreciation of the wonderful instrument that they now have.”

DEDICATION CONCERT AND WORKSHOP

Rodgers Artist and Tonal Professional, Dan Miller: “I really enjoyed my visit to Prospect Street United Methodist Church. The people are wonderful, the church is welcoming, and the Rodgers Infinity 361 is outstanding! Congratulations to Daniel Smith for his superb installation and seamless integration of the church’s Schantz pipes very ably played by the Rodgers organ. The pipe and digital pipe stops blend perfectly for a beautiful and inspirational experience.”

A church organist since age fifteen, Dan Miller has been featured in concerts and events for over 40 years and served at several notable churches. In addition to being an internationally renowned organist, Dan has also taught music, conducted choral groups and orchestras, led and facilitated worship in many different settings, and managed large concert productions and music conferences. 

Dan carefully crafts the concert program to make the program interesting and enjoyable. He has a reputation of leaving audiences thrilled at the music, emotionally impacted by the beauty of the organ with all its variety of colors and moods. Dan's goal is to present the organ as "people-friendly," to include music the audience would enjoy. Another goal of Dan's is to show as much of the organ's tonal resources as possible. Dan's typical church organ concert presentation of approximately 70 minutes usually includes a variety of music styles, such as:

Please enjoy the following recording of Dan Miller’s Hybrid Organ Dedication Concert at Prospect Street United Methodist Church (Recorded by Daniel Smith).

Rodgers Instruments would like to kindly thank everyone who was involved in this special project. We are truly grateful.