David Brown

Events

  • Actions, Bellows, and Chests: the ABC's of "What is the Organbuilder talking about?"
    808 Howell St
    July 5, 2022 @ 8:00 am
    The King of Instruments has always been a complex machine, as well as a beautiful musical instrument. However, organists sometimes overlook the technical details of their instrument, leaving it to organ builders and consultants. But what if your instrument needs some work and your institution is relying upon your expertise to comprehend and explain the organ builder's report of the required work? Or perhaps you just feel it’s time to become more comfortable and conversant with the technicalities of your instrument? In this workshop, organ builders Dave Brown and Chris Bono will de-mystify some of the technical sides of the pipe organ, help you to understand the language of your organ builder, and answer any specific questions you might have always wanted to ask.
  • The Future of Organ Building: A Panel Discussion
    808 Howell St
    July 6, 2022 @ 10:00 am
    Join moderator Christa Rakich and a diverse group of experts, including David Brown, Paul Fritts, Martin Pasi, William Porter, and Michael Kraft in a discussion of the Well-Tempered Future of organ building. The history of organ building is as diverse as the history of church music and organ literature. Likewise, questions of technology, architecture, and purpose are all intangibly related to the King of Instruments. Where do we stand with the current state of organ building and where do we go with organ building in the future? How are decisions being made about concept, design, and the utilization of new technologies? Does the future of organ building keep building on the future of organ literature, or do we go in completely different directions?

About

A second-generation pipe organ builder, David Brown has been living and breathing this ancient trade since childhood days in his father’s factory, seeing, hearing, and smelling all that goes into the art of organbuilding. A native of Sydney, Dave began his indentured 4 year apprenticeship in Melbourne with Australian Pipe Organs in June 2000, concurrently completing a 3 year Cabinetmaking technical course.

In 2005, Dave took up the position as Service Shop Foreman for Buzard Organ Company in Champaign, Illinois, and has overseen the restoration and rebuilding of dozens of instruments with his team there, as well as an involvement in new instruments by the firm.

A self-confessed Anglophile, Dave has a great fondness for English organs of the Victorian and Edwardian eras, having restored and maintained dozens of these instruments imported into Australia from the great firms of Hill &Son, T.C. Lewis, and Willis & Sons, and other firms. He maintains personal and professional connections to the organ worlds of England and Australia and is passionate about saving, restoring, and re-homing fine redundant instruments.

Dave’s 22 years in the trade have given him the opportunity to work on a wide variety of instruments such as those built by, Willis, Rieger, Wurlitzer, Skinner, Walcker, Hill, and many others. 

Dave is a member of the American Institute of Organbuilders and the British Institute of Organ Studies.

When he’s not organbuilding, Dave loves to travel and in fine weather may be spotted around town driving his 1965 Lincoln Continental convertible.