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The Sharkey-Corrigan Pipe Organ
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You’re watching the construction of the Sharkey-Corrigan Pipe Organ, located in Texas A&M International University’s Center for the Fine and Performing Arts Recital Hall. The Construction occurred over a three-week period by a crew of seven people. An additional seven weeks were given to tonal finishing and tuning. The planning and design of the project took about three years.

The Sharkey-Corrigan Pipe Organ is a gift from The E. H. Corrigan Foundation of Laredo and will be dedicated in an Inaugural Recital Sunday, July 23 at 5 p.m.

Guest artist will be Dr. David Heller of San Antonio’s Trinity University, considered one of the nation’s most outstanding organists and recording artists. The American Organist, has hailed him as “an eloquent performer” and called his most recent recording, Veni Creator Spiritus (Calcante Recordings) an “excellent demonstration of outstanding music making on a contemporary American organ.”

After a national search, the Kegg Company of Hartville, Ohio was chosen to build this landmark instrument. The new organ has 69 ranks and 52 stops.

The tonal scheme seeks not to simply reproduce sounds from any historic period, but to give the instrument its own voice with the integrity to convey with conviction the musical language of composers of all eras to contemporary listeners.

The Sharkey-Corrigan Pipe Organ features 3998 pipes arranged in 69 sets or ranks. It has four keyboards and its pipes are placed in three locations.

The largest pipes are made of zinc, but most of the pipes are made of alloys of tin and lead. Three sets of wood pipes are made of poplar, basswood and pine. The largest pipe is 34 feet tall, while the smallest is less than ¼” tall. The total weight of the organ is approximately 35,000 pounds.

For additional information, contact the Office of Public Relations, Marketing and Information Services at 956.326.2180, visit offices in the Sue and Radcliffe Killam Library, room 268, email prmis@tamiu.edu or click on tamiu.edu.