Wurlitzer Grand Debut Concert – Dave Wickerham

Join David Wickerham at Lincoln Hall for a performance you do not want to miss!

After a year without organ concerts during ARCA’s Wurlitzer Restoration Project, experience the majesty of the beloved McKissick Mighty Wurlitzer as it is unveiled in the Grand Debut Concert performed by internationally renowned ARCA favorite, Dave Wickerham, on Sunday, June 1 at 2 PM in Lincoln Hall. This concert will sell out so be sure to buy online at alleghenyriverstone.org or call 724-659-3153 to reserve.

Thanks to the renovation project in the expert hands of ARCA’s superb organ technician Jason Wiles, Dave will pull out all the stops on the gloriously restored Wurlitzer – and demonstrate some new stops, with the addition of bass pipes and a new saxophone rank in an afternoon of theatre organ music in myriad styles and genres.  The Restoration Project was announced during intermission of the May 5, 2024 concert by Dave Wickerham.

Dave shared his rich perspective about ARCA’s Wurlitzer Restoration project: “Theater pipe organs, like classic cars and other fine antiques need proper restoration at least once every century. The Mighty McKissick Wurlitzer organ here in Foxburg, PA is no exception… It’s tired and needs YOUR HELP… to insure the continued functionality of the Mighty Wurlitzer and the JOY of this AMAZING American form of music performance, for the NEXT hundred years!!”

Built in 1928, the Mighty McKissick Wurlitzer is one of twenty-four built in its size and style and is one of the best examples of this class of theater organ. ARCA’s remarkable instrument is one of only three hundred Wurlitzer theatre organs existing today in the United States, from the ten thousand built between 1910 and 1940.

Tickets are Adults $25, Members $20, Students $5.  Call to Reserve at 724-659-3153 and pay by cash or check at the door.  Doors open at 1:30 PM.

After the concert, plan to continue the Grand Debut Concert celebration at the Red Brick Gallery from 4:30 to 6:30 PM, where you can Meet the Artists at a wine & cheese reception for the opening of the exhibit of Nancy Connelly – Plein Air Pastels and Sculptures. 

Master of the console, Dave Wickerham was honored with the “Organist of the Year” award by the American Theatre Organ Society in 2011 and has toured the world to rave reviews performing his unique arrangements and peerless improvisations. Brought back annually by popular demand, he is a favorite of ARCA audiences – old and young alike.

His programs have something for everyone – from Great American Song Book standards, Disney and popular pieces, to waltzes, rags, marches, orchestral pieces, classical works, hymns and patriotic medleys.  The arrangements are always fresh, employing his improvisatorial ingenuity to create delightful surprises, sometimes with multiple combinations of genres in a single arrangement.

Dave’s voicings are rich, fully utilizing the multitudinous ranks of the instrument and demonstrating the full range of instrumentation and the magnificent glory of the theatre organ – as he turns the Wurlitzer into a cathedral pipe organ, jazz ensemble, ragtime band, bagpipe band or steam locomotive.

And Dave always gives the piano and percussion shelf a complete work-out!  No one can touch his outrageously genius improvisations based on audience requests given at concert intermissions – they are a tour de force.

His recordings are treasured, including his fourth CD “Sounds of Music” recorded on the famous 5 Manual, 80 Rank Theatre Organ at the Sanfilippo Residence in Barrington, IL.

As one of the preeminent theatre organists acclaimed worldwide, no one makes Lincoln Hall’s McKissick Mighty Wurlitzer Theatre organ sound more glorious or entertains our appreciative audience better than Dave Wickerham!