Playing the organ in the Church on the Hill

Virginia-Church-on-the-Hill, originally uploaded by oamcsinger.

Virginia Oliver plays the 1858 organ of the 13th-century Church on the Hill in the town of Sighisoara.

By Ron Oliver, singer, husband of Virginia Oliver, organist/pianist
Received Thursday, April 23, 2009 at 11:24 a.m. Pacific

There is a famous organ in the Black Church in Brasov. It is the largest organ in Romania and the only organ built by a famous German organ builder that survives in its original condition.

For the concert, it took a team of three organists to play it! Virginia played while the regular church organist and an assistant stood on either side of her moving the stops as needed. The keys and pedals are not today's standard size. The organ had four manuals and 4,000 pipes, and sounded magnificent.

The facility is called a church but is really a gothic cathedral.