The large organ whose notes resounded through...

The large organ whose notes resounded through Los Angeles’ Episcopal cathedral from 1911 to 1979 will re-emerge as a rebuilt and musically enhanced instrument Sunday in St. James Episcopal Church on Wilshire Boulevard.

The 4,604-pipe organ has 82 ranks, or rows of pipes of a given timbre, and a computerized console linked to another organ and synthesizers. Bishop Frederick Borsch will preside over the dedicatory service at 10:30 a.m. and Australian David Drury will perform in a 4:30 p.m. concert.

Though built by organ master Murray Harris, whose handiwork also survives in the Stanford University Chapel and Los Angeles’ 2nd Church of Christ, Scientist, the cathedral organ has not had a uniformly glorious past.

Its first home was St. Paul’s Cathedral on the present site of the Biltmore Hotel. When the cathedral and the organ moved to a new location on Figueroa Street, “organ tastes had changed and the instrument was out of date,” said Manuel Rosales of Los Angeles, a consultant on the restoration project.

In the 1950s, the organ was modified and improved to give it a better sound, Rosales said.

But when St. Paul’s adopted plans in the 1970s to install a new instrument, the Harris organ deteriorated from neglect, he said. Soon after, the cathedral was condemned because of earthquake safety concerns and then-Bishop Robert Rusack agreed to save the organ by putting its parts into storage.

Faced with yearly storage costs and the Episcopal Diocese’s decision not to build a new cathedral, the organ’s supporters in 1986 set their sights on St. James Church as the only place large enough to house the organ.

David John Falconer, organist-choirmaster at St. James, secured a major grant from the Ahmanson Foundation to rebuild and refurbish the organ.

In April, 1994, Falconer was gunned down in the parking lot of a convenience store on his way home from church. The new organ, it was decided, would bear his name.

Pipes were appropriated from the church’s original 1926 organ and refurbished and a wider range of pitch was incorporated for the David John Falconer Memorial Organ.

“Its spectacular tones range from the thundering bass of a 32-foot Bombarde pipe to the brilliance of pipes just three-quarters of an inch long,” said Jim Buonemani, choirmaster for the church at 3903 Wilshire Blvd.

The Sunday concert is the first of a series at St. James, most of them free and many featuring organists from other churches in Southern California.

PEOPLE

* Cardinal John J. O’Connor of New York will give the keynote address at a dinner Sunday at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel celebrating the 25th anniversary of Thomas Aquinas College, a four-year liberal arts institution in Santa Paula. Information: (805) 525-4417.

* The fast-growing, 8,000-congregant Brookins Community African Methodist Episcopal Church, 4831 S. Gramercy Place, Los Angeles, is hosting a men’s prayer breakfast at 9 a.m. next Saturday to benefit the pastor, the Rev. T. Larry Kirkland Sr., in his campaign for a bishop’s post in the AME denomination. The Rev. Norman D. Copeland, pastor of Ward AME Church, will be the guest speaker. Information: (213) 296-5610.

* Skyline Wesleyan Church in San Diego, an influential evangelical congregation, has selected the Rev. Jim Garlow, 47, of Dallas to succeed Pastor John Maxwell, who resigned this year to devote full time to his nationwide ministries.

HOLIDAYS

* Getting through the holidays can be hard for those who have recently lost loved ones, says the Rev. Ronald D. Beams, clergy relations director at Forest Lawn Memorial Parks. “Many actually dread the advent of Thanksgiving, Hanukkah or Christmas because a recent loss means someone is now permanently missing from their lives,” Beams said. To help people cope, Beams will lead three free seminars. The first is at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Hall of Liberty at Forest Lawn-Hollywood Hills. The seminar will be repeated Nov. 14 at Forest Lawn-Covina Hills and Nov. 16 at Forest Lawn-Cypress. Information: (818) 241-4151, Ext. 4741.

* Conflicts faced by Jewish and non-Jewish marriage partners when December holiday celebrations approach will be discussed Nov. 19 from 1:30 to 5 p.m. at the University of Judaism in the Sepulveda Pass. The course on the “December Dilemma” will be led by Rabbi Neal Weinberg and Linda Schein Fife. Information: (310) 476-9777, Ext. 273.

DATES

* Events that have affected black-Jewish relations will be discussed by members of the Westside’s Temple Isaiah and the First African Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles on Thursday night at the church, 2270 S. Harvard Blvd. The Rev. Cecil (Chip) Murray and Rabbi Robert Gan will take part in the open discussion. Information: (310) 277-2772.

* The Bodhi Tree Bookstore, 8585 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood, will present two lectures on Eastern thought. “The Three Levels of Spiritual Perception” by the late Deshung Rinpoche of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism will be discussed at 7:30 p.m. today by his niece, Jamyang Sakya. And at 7:30 pm. Wednesday, Jeremy Hayward will speak on his book, “Sacred World: A Guide to Shambhala Warriorship in Daily Life.” Information: (310) 659-1733.

* A motivational seminar on prosperity will feature actress Della Reese, star of CBS’ “Touched by an Angel,” and author Catherine Ponder at Founder’s Church of Religious Science, 3281 W. 6th St., Los Angeles, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today. Registration $35. Information: (213) 388-9733.

* Patricia Lynn Reilly of Berkeley, author of “A God Who Looks Like Me,” will speak on “Lilith, the Rebellious First Woman” at 1 p.m. Sunday at Orange Coast Unitarian Universalist Church, 1259 Victoria St., Costa Mesa. Donation $5. Information: (714) 965-1176.

* A series of four talks on “American Women in Mission” will be given Wednesday and Thursday in Pasadena by Dana Robert of the Boston University School of Theology. Her book, with the same title, was published this year. Robert will speak at 10 and 11 a.m. Wednesday at Pasadena’s First Congregational Church and at 10 and 11 a.m. Thursday at Fuller Seminary’s Travis Auditorium. Free. Information: (818) 584-5367.

MUSIC

* Eight former Soviet child prodigies now living in Israel--including 9-year-old pianist Julia Suslov, who won first prize at the 1995 Haifa (Israel) Festival of Chamber Music--will perform tonight and Wednesday night in recitals to benefit Ramat Gan Conservatory of Music in Israel. The piano and violin recitals will be at 7:30 p.m. today at Adat Ari El, 12020 Burbank Blvd., North Hollywood, and 7 p.m. Wednesday at Temple Emanuel, 8844 Burton Way, Beverly Hills. Information: (818) 766-9426 and (310) 288-3737.

* The Ensemble Organum of Paris will perform “Old Roman Chant from the 7th to the 13th Centuries” at 3 p.m. Sunday in St. Cecilia’s Catholic Church, 4230 S. Normandie Ave., Los Angeles. The program was designed to be enhanced by St. Cecilia’s architecture, which a spokesman said is reminiscent of churches in Ravenna and Milan in northern Italy. Tickets $27, $24, $18. Information: (310) 440-1351.

* Choirs from St. Cyprian’s Catholic Church in Long Beach, Cal State Long Beach and the host Lakewood Presbyterian Church, 3955 Studebaker Road, Long Beach, will sing at 3 p.m. Sunday in a choir festival supported by the South Coast Ecumenical Council. A second choir festival will take place at 3 p.m. Nov. 12 at St. Peter’s-by-the-Sea Presbyterian Church in Rancho Palos Verdes. Information: (310) 595-0268.

INTERFAITH

* The “search for spirituality in Catholicism and Judaism” is the theme for the 19th annual Catholic-Jewish Women’s Conference from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Sunday at Immaculate Heart High School, 5515 Franklin Ave., Los Angeles. Rabbi Judith Halevy and Sister Joann Heinritz are the speakers. Information: (310) 319-9761.

* Catholic-Jewish relations, as spelled out in the new catechism of the Catholic Church, will be discussed by two interfaith experts in free workshops Nov. 13 at Loyola Marymount University and Nov. 14 at St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo. Eugene Fisher, executive secretary of the U.S. Bishops’ Secretariat for Catholic-Jewish Relations, and Rabbi James Rudin, the American Jewish Committee’s interreligious affairs director, will talk. Information: (213) 655-7071.

FINALLY

* Single women who are Christian joke half-seriously about the shortage of available men in churches: “Only two kinds of males go to church--those whose wives make them go and those whose parents make them go.”

One answer for churchgoing singles in search of partners is the fourth annual Christian Singles Convention next Saturday at the Holiday Inn Select in Beverly Hills. Sponsored by the Christian Singles Registry and American Singles, a nonprofit organization based in San Rafael, it is billed as the largest singles gathering of its kind in Southern California.

The conference begins at 1:30 p.m. with seminars such as “How to Flirt” and “A Single Man Opens His Heart and Tells the Truth.” The keynote talk, “Stop Settling for Second Best in Relationships,” will be given by Australian author Rosalene Glickman at 8 p.m., followed by an “alcohol-free and smoke-free” dance party.

The event is open to singles of all ages. Tickets are $25 for the entire convention, or $15 for either the seminars only or the dinner/dance. Information: (818) 591-0078.