J. Allan MacKinnon, with help from his wife, removed the tent-sized protective cover that’s been draped nearly non-step for three years over the 1928 Kimball Theatre Pipe Organ at the State Office Building.
He lined sheet music for an opening volley of songs across the three-foot-long music desk spanning the double keyboard, then placed his hands and feet at the controls they’ve worked for so many years.
Then at exactly noon on Friday, like the prelude to a grand sporting event, the “Star-Spangled Banner” resonated throughout the building’s massive atrium in the first public performance of the organ since the COVID-19 pandemic halted the weekly midday concerts in early 2020.
Among the first people arriving before the music started was Latecia Dumaop, 43, a lifelong resident of Juneau who came to watch the performance with her husband, their son and two of his friends as they ate a packed-in lunch.
“The echo in here is just magical and the view,” she said. “It’s nostalgic. It’s something we grew up hearing. I mean J. Allan MacKinnon, he’s been here forever. I went to school with his son. And they actually live just a few streets down from them too. And whenever I see him in town I askhim if the organ’s been repaired. So I’ve just been washing and cleaning, watching and waiting.”
Dumaop said she was a regular at the concerts for years until they came to an unexpected halt.
“I’m a stay-at-home mom and I’m always looking for things to do,” she said. “And so me and my girlfriends would come here, and bring our little ones and pack a lunch, and let them enjoy the concert.”
The concert occurred about 10 days after two experts from Oregon tuned and restored the organ to playable condition last week, which was necessary since the long period of inactivity meant some of the mechanisms no longer worked. MacKinnon, who tested the instrument during non-working hours a couple of days after it was restored, said just before his show Friday it felt both familiar and solid in sound quality.
An audience of state workers, other Juneau residents and visitors listens to a concert by J. Allan MacKinnon on the 1928 Kimball Theatre Pipe Organ in the Alaska State Office Building on Friday. The concerts were a mainstay in the building for decades until the COVID-19 pandemic halted them for more than three years. The first show since the disruption took place with little advance public notice. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
The set was diverse in content, with works including J. S. Bach’s organ classic “Toccata and Fugue in D minor,” the official Air Force theme song “”Wild Blue Yonder” and The Beatles’ “Yesterday.”
“I played a lot of old tunes those youngsters never would have heard,” MacKinnon told the Dumaop parents after the finale, as the trio of youths clustered near the instrument.
But MacKinnon also played several all-ages tunes from classic fantasy movies and the original “Star Wars.” The merry familiarity of the “Annie” showtune “Tomorrow” enticed Callie Layton, 4, into dancing on the wide brick floor as her father rose and twirled her in proper ballroom fashion.
“A friend of mine told me about the organ when we were planning our trip to Juneau,” said Jeff Layton, a Palmer resident visiting the capital city with his family. “So we decided to check it out.”
Jeff Layton, left, twirls his daughter Callie, 4, in a dance while his son Otto, 6, tries to cut in during the performance of the “Annie” showtune “Tomorrow” on Friday by J. Allan MacKinnon on the 1928 Kimball Theatre Pipe Organ in the Alaska State Office Building. The Layton family, visiting from Palmer, came to the building to hear the concerts a friend mentioned, not knowing it was the first such concert in more than three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Jeff Layton, who said he didn’t know the organ concerts had been put on hold, said part of the interest was because they’re a musical family, including his wife, Sarah, who plays (a much smaller) organ at their church. The family’s stop in Juneau was a layover to their ultimate destination of Sitka where some of their children are participating in the Sitka Fine Arts Camp.
Additional noontime concerts on the Kimball organ are scheduled Fridays through August, with T.J. Duffy scheduled to play next Friday. The two men, who are both longtime performers on the organ and the only ones currently authorized by its owner to do so, will trade off the weekly appearances.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.
