June 30, 2026
Most summers, the halls of the Butler School of Music fall quiet as students and faculty leave campus for a well-earned break. This year, however, the end of June brought two days of music echoing through the building as one of the school's newest instruments was prepared for its debut.
On June 29, the Butler School of Music welcomed a custom-built continuo organ, handcrafted by Fisk Organ Builders of Gloucester, Massachusetts. Though compact in size, the instrument represents centuries of musical tradition and will play an important role in the school's performances of early and Baroque repertoire.
The continuo organ is being set up in Bates Concert Hall.
A continuo organ features a single manual with 51 keys spanning four octaves and a whole step. Designed primarily for music of the Renaissance and Baroque periods, it is the type of instrument ideally suited to the works of composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach, where it serves as the harmonic foundation of an ensemble.
The organ was one of three identical instruments built by Fisk over the course of three to four months. After arriving in Austin on June 29, Fisk representative David Pike traveled from Massachusetts to oversee the instrument's delivery before spending the next two days carefully assembling, voicing, and tuning it in preparation for the upcoming academic year.
David Pike is positioning a pipe in the new organ.
Valued at approximately $125,000, continuo organs are specialized instruments most often found at leading conservatories, major churches, and in the collections of dedicated private musicians. Of the three instruments built in this commission, two ultimately found homes in Texas. One now resides at the Butler School of Music, while the other was purchased by a private music enthusiast in Dallas.
The new continuo organ
Audiences will have the opportunity to hear the new continuo organ throughout the upcoming concert season as it makes its Butler School debut, adding an authentic Baroque sound to performances for years to come.