February 15 we had the treat of going to St. Mark's Cathedral in Seattle to hear an organ solo performance. The guest artist is the Principal Organist for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Richard Elliott. What a treat for us - it was a wonderful evening. The program lasted about 90 minutes with a brief intermission - he played the last 30 minutes or so without any music! We were so glad he included in the program his own arrangement of Swing Low Sweet Chariot, which he wrote for the 2009 Central States tour by the choir. The opening section of that number is all played on the feet pedals and it's pretty impressive. Since the organ is in the balcony at the back of the hall they had a camera on the organ and showed that on a big screen in the sanctuary so we could see his fabulous playing. The organ at St. Mark's is well known - it's a Flentrop Organ installed in 1965. It contains 3,944 pipes ranging in size from 32 feet to less than one inch! The pipes are made of either a tin and lead alloy, cured copper, and African and/or Brazilian mahogany. St. Mark's Flentrop is one of the largest 20th century organs employing mechanical key action and remains a landmark instrument of international note. St. Mark's Cathedral sits on Capitol Hill in Seattle overlooking Lake Union and the Space Needle area - sorry the picture really didn't capture the great view. We stayed the night in Seattle and enjoyed the Seattle Temple the next day - what a great 24 hours!!
St Mark's Cathedral at night - had a big dome on top but we were too close to capture it!
Several pictures of the famous Flentrop Organ
Four massive pillars are highlighted in the sanctuary at St. Mark's
Dr. Elliott steps around from the organ to receive acknowledgement from the crowd sitting below
An reception was held afterwards, co-sponsored by St. Mark's and members of the LDS Church
The great view from the back of the Cathedral property across Seattle
Oftentimes after going to the temple we'll stop at Deseret Bookstore to see if there's anything we might want to pick up. Around Christmas time we discovered there's a real reason to stop by every time we're in the neighborhood!
