Classical Music

San Diego Civic Organist Robert Plimpton has announced the formation of the Spreckels Organ Committee, an auxiliary whose purpose is to expand the musical activities associated with the city’s historic concert organ in Balboa Park. Chaired by Vivian Evenson, the 20-member group already has three major projects on its docket.

It will fund and present additional Monday night performances this summer, including a recital by international organ virtuoso Hector Olivera on June 13. The Argentinean-American organist’s program will inaugurate recent additions to the organ’s pipe work, including a new battery of blazing trumpets.

In addition to the concerts, Plimpton will make a pair of recordings of music played on the Spreckels Organ, which the committee hopes will become a hot souvenir item for tourists who come to hear the world’s largest outdoor pipe organ.

The committee did not even have to pass the hat to open its bank account, since the special projects fund of the San Francisco American Guild of Organists Chapter had awarded it a $500 start-up grant.