photo by: Austin Hornbostel/Journal-World

Derek Kwan, the Lied Center's executive director, and David Rankin, an area representative with Oregon-based Rodgers Organ Company, strategize how to go about moving the hefty portable organ that was delivered on Wednesday, June 14, 2023.

No performance was taking place at the Lied Center around midday Wednesday, but plenty of excitement was afoot as the center received a special delivery.

Until early July, the Lied Center will be the temporary home of a brand new portable organ — an instrument that’s never been played on the Lied Center’s main stage. The organ is on loan from Oregon’s Rodgers Organ Company, and it arrived at the center Wednesday.

Moving the roughly 740-pound instrument even a few feet without the help of a dolly took a team of more than half a dozen volunteers. One of them was Derek Kwan, the Lied Center’s executive director. Kwan told the Journal-World “it’s pretty special” to be able to showcase the organ for the first time.

And its debut is quickly approaching. The first person to ever play the instrument will be organist Tandy Reussner, who along with the Lawrence City Band will perform in a benefit concert, “Land of the Free,” at 4 p.m. July 2 at the Lied Center.

photo by: Austin Hornbostel/Journal-World

A team — including the Lied Center’s executive director, Derek Kwan, right — moves the roughly 740-pound organ on loan to the Lied Center, on Wednesday, June 14, 2023..

This instrument is quite unlike what may come to mind when most folks think of an organ, though. Traditional pipe organs can be massive, and organists produce their unique sound by driving pressurized air through the pipes via a keyboard.

The organ that’ll be played at the Lied Center, however, is fully electronic. Rather than myriad pipes, it’s outfitted with more than 150 voices that can be programmed to fit the preferences of whoever is playing it.

“It has the whole capability of a pipe organ; everything is just digitally taken from a pipe organ’s pipe sounds,” Reussner said.

Specifically, the sound of each pipe being played on an actual pipe organ is what’s recorded to fill the sample library for the portable version. When it’s played on the Lied Center stage, the organ’s audio will be pumped through the auditorium sound system.

Reussner said she would need to adjust to playing the unfamiliar instrument. She anticipates it’ll take an ample amount of practice to boost her comfort level.

“Oh, I’m going to need a lot of time,” Reussner said. “It’ll be two or three hours a day, twice a day normally. Every organ is completely different; even an electronic, digital one like this is going to be completely different, so you have to learn where everything is. In a fast-moving piece, if I’m ready to change sounds, I need to know exactly where (to go).”

photo by: Austin Hornbostel/Journal-World

Organist Tandy Reussner and David Rankin, an area representative with Oregon-based Rodgers Organ Company, take a look Wednesday, June 14, 2023, at the back side of a portable organ on loan to the Lied Center. At an upcoming performance, the organ will be the first instrument of its kind to be featured on the Lied Center’s main stage.

After the concert in July, Reussner said the organ would move to Topeka, where it will await a buyer. Whoever scoops it up is likely to have deep pockets; David Rankin, an area representative for Rodgers, estimated that it’s about an $89,000 instrument.

Both Rankin and Reussner agreed that possibly the coolest thing about an organ hitting the Lied Center’s main stage for the first time is that it’ll reach more people who have never heard the instrument played live before.

“I don’t think that you can ever replace the actual sound, feel, experience of a real cool, giant pipe organ that’s as big as this instrument,” Rankin said. “Can we do it pretty close? Absolutely, and if I’ve got the right room and I’ve got the right set-up, people can sit out in the pew and they can feel it in the floor just like (a pipe organ).”

The July 2 performance is part of Reussner’s “Pull Out All The Stops” benefit concert series. Ticket proceeds and donations will go to the homelessness prevention nonprofit Family Promise. More information about the concert and ticket prices are available on the Lied Center’s website.