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The Friends of the Wanamaker Organ welcomes you!
Wanamaker Organ Day 2012
Saturday June 2
Click the black icon bar below to purchase tickets for our Grand Evening Concert with Peter Richard Conte, Robert Plimpton and a Full Brass and Percussion Ensemble, in a tribute to the music of Robert Elmore. This special concert follows Wanamaker Organ Day and is Saturday June 2 at 8:30 pm
WANAMAKER ORGAN DAY, SATURDAY JUNE 2 at Macy's Philadelphia is actually more of a Wanamaker weekend this year. Most events are free and all are open to the public!
FRIDAY JUNE 1:
10am Our festival unofficially opens Friday June 1 with tours of the organ chambers, and free presentations in Greek Hall. About 10am a Christmas video of the late Wanamaker Organist Keith Chapman will be shown, as well as a video of Dr. Chapman's Diamond Anniversary Concert in 1986. Rick Seifert hosts.
10:30 am A free group tour of the Organ Chambers and Shop will leave from the Eagle
12 noon The Wanamaker Organ will be heard at its usual time, possibly played by one of our guest artists. Guests may tour the console after the concert.
1:30 pm Rick Seifert presents his Wanamaker Organ tribute to "The Greatest Musical Wonder in the World." It's an acclaimed history of the Wanamaker Store and the Grand Court Organ in the form of a musical documentary.
3:30 pm Authors Lawrence M. Arrigale and Thomas H. Keelsby present a fully illustrated talk on their exciting  new book, "Philadelphia's Golden Age of Retail."
7 pm The Wanamaker Organ will be heard in its regular evening recital, possibly with guest artists presiding. Guests may tour the console after the concert.
MEALS & LODGING: Please scroll down for suggestions. Full details on traveling to the store are found on other pages of this website.
SATURDAY JUNE 2: Wanamaker Organ Day includes a full day of music and fun that culminates with a rare after-hours ticketed Grand Evening Concert.
10am The Day opens with a showing of Rick Seifert's tribute to the Wanamaker Organ in Greek Hall. Guided tours of the organ chambers will also be given during this time. Stop by the Friends table in the Grand Court for details.
11:30 am Saturday's music begins with a Grand Opening Concert broadcast live on Jill Pasternak's  "Crossover on WRTI-FM. This broadcast is also transmitted around the world live on the Internet at WRTI.ORG. Peter Richard Conte and guests Peter Krasinski and Robert Plimpton will be featured in thrilling organ masterworks. Jill Pasternak hosts.
2 pm A silent film showcases the acclaimed Friends Wurlitzer in Greek Hall. Peter Krasinski romping through the Harold Lloyd classic comedy "Speedy." Tickets ($10) are available at the Friends table or at the door.
 "Speedy," the bespectacled Harold Lloyd (1893-1971) was one of the great comedians of the silent era, a natural acrobat, skilled at playing a happy-go-lucky fellow with a knack for getting caught up in reckless situations. In "Speedy" (1928), Lloyd's character, Harold "Speedy" Swift visits Coney Island in its heyday, and frolics on the wild amusements with his girl Jane (Ann Christy). Wonderful vintage scenes of 1920s Coney Island amusements are included. Next Speedy becomes a cab driver with a very important customer-Babe Ruth himself. The film ends as connivers are trying to put the horse-drawn trolley company run by Jane's grandfather (Bert Woodruf) out of business.
* * * QUEEN ELIZABETH DIAMOND JUBILEE SALUTE SAT. AT 5 PM * * *
Last month the Friends wrote to the Queen announcing the tribute. We received a letter of reply on behalf of the Queen from Windsor Castle, in which Her Majesty sends her "good wishes" to all the Friends and event attendees. The letter may be read as a .pdf file by clicking on her image at left.
 Our musical tribute to the Queen's Diamond Jubilee features Peter Richard Conte, Rudy Lucente and the Friends of the Wanamaker Organ Festival Chorus and Brass Ensemble. The music presented marks the occasion with high and majesticAnglo-American musical ceremonial as only possible on the Wanamaker Organ. This concert is free and open to the public.
WANAMAKER ORGAN DAY GRAND EVENING CONCERT
6 pm Dinner on your own. See our list of restaurants below for dining ideas for all pocketbooks.
8:30 pm SATURDAY NIGHT THE STARS COME OUT! Peter Richard Conte and Robert Plimpton pay tribute to Robert Elmore in a ticketed Grand Evening Concert that features Elmore masterworks including his fiery Concerto for Organ, Brass and Percussion. An especially large brass ensemble will take part in another Friends musical spectacle. The music list for the evening event is available by clicking the icon at right. Hearing the Wanamaker Organ at night is an incredible experience. Its awesome majesty and infinite subtleties can only be fully appreciated in the absolute hush of an empty store.
 Tickets for our June 2 Grand Evening Concert are available at our Webstore, accessible by clicking the icon at left.
Please note that members and their guests are entitled to a $10 discount per ticket. Non-members may join the Friends for just $25 a year and receive the discount. Full details on tickets and joining the Friends are at our Webstore!
SUNDAY JUNE 3:
2:30 pm For those staying over or leaving town late on Sunday June 3, or staying over, Peter Richard Conte will play the Wanamaker Organ in a rare Sunday Concert. Visitors are most welcome to meet him and tour the console following the recital.
Details are subject to change. Please watch this space for further details or, better yet, join the Friends and receive information with our newsletter in the mail.
 Friends Symposium: SPECIAL THANKS to those taking part in our June Wanamaker Organ Symposium, including John Adams, Roy and Laura Blanchard, Bill and Kim Bragg, Nathan Bryson, Jon Buchanan, William Cantonesye, Don Drury, Brant Duddy, Bob Knight, Tom Engstrom & Valerie Kuenst, Mary Ann Fry, Roger Lane, Curt Mangel, Steven Moore, John Mussina, Rick Seifert,  Nik Sizgorich, Jim Stemke, Maureen & Alex Thielens, Jim & Melanie Twyne, Alex Martin, David Tuck, Claire Whiting, Paul O'Connell, Charles Kegg, Anthony Nichols and Sam Whitcraft. Please salute these people when you meet them during the Wanamaker Organ events-we simply could not do what we do without their tireless efforts on behalf of the Wanamaker Organ!
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Are you interested in a Guided Tour on the last Saturday of each month? Click Here!
 Longwood Gardens is sponsoring an International Organ Competition that features the largest cash prize to the winner of the event, who receives the P.S. du Pont Medal. Applicants who are 18 through 30 years old are accepted. For an entry form, please click on the icon at left or visit the Longwood Gardens website. Our own Peter Richard Conte is among the judges of the exciting new event.
Recent work on the console has included the addition of new features and accessories to aid the player in taking advantage of the Organ's many new resources. The photo at right shows the new colors of the Vox Humana section, which are now an independent floating division. Visitors will be able to view the console on Wanamaker Organ Day weekend June 1-3, 2012.
 Peter Richard Conte welcomed Golden Globe Award-winning actress Kim Cattrall to the loft in late January. It was something of a homecoming for Ms. Cattrall had her first big break in the movie "Mannequin," which was filmed at John Wanamaker in 1987. She sang along to Mr. Conte's performance of songs from "The Wizard of Oz" and also confirmed that it was not her, but a stunt double, who did the hang-gliding feat in the Grand Court for the movie. Ms. Cattrall, who was in town to see a friend perform in a play at the Wilma Theatre, said she wanted to see the organ again that was prominently featured in the film, about a mannequin that suddenly comes to life.
We are delighted to announce that the Friends of the Wanamaker Organ, in conjunction with Macy's, begins weekly live store-hours broadcasts of the Wanamaker Organ each Wednesday at 7PM Eastern on the Yesterday USA Internet Radio service. Be sure to tune in at that time. Listen to Yesterday USA by clicking the icon at left! Click on the icon at right to get a free Yesterday USA ap for your I-pad or I-phone and start listening today!
You can listen to the Wanamaker Organ using an archive of past radio-broadcast shows here! See a PBS mini-feature on the Wanamaker Organ here!
 The Friends has launched an ambitious Century II Music Endowment drive to mark the 100th anniversary of the Wanamaker Organ in the Store. Among the uses of the fund is revenue to buy much needed chairs for our concerts. Please consider making a contribution here. A prospectus on the fund is available here. We are counting on this fund to create quality presentations for many years to comeas we mark the Wanamaker Organ's 100th anniversary in the Store.
HOTEL ACCOMMODATIONS
 With the opening of the expanded Convention Center, Philadelphia hotels have been filling up more frequently. Rooms are available, but at higher prices. For the budget minded, we suggest checking online resources such as Orbitz or Hotels.com or Priceline.com for rooms. One option that can save a lot of money is to stay at the Philadelphia airport. A commuter train from the terminals stops right at the Market Street East station near Macy's, and shuttles from the airport hotels connect directly with the commuter train stops at the airport terminals. Reportedly, a taxi ride to Center City is a flat $25. Often booking a hotel or motel room just a short car ride outside of town can save significantly on city hotel taxes, overnight parking and other expenses, leaving a bigger vacation budget for amusements and recreation. Among the local hotels are the Alexander Inn, Holiday Inn Express Midtown, Mariott Hotels, Loews Hotel, Ritz Carlton, Four Seasons, Hampton Inn, Hilton Garden Inn and several other hostelries. The Radnor Hotel near Wayne, Pa., is about an eighth of a mile from the Radnor train station, which services the R5 Paoli Local line going into the city.
MEAL SUGGESTIONS
A number of restaurants are in the vicinity of the Store. Within a block or two is Chili's, Maggiano's, The Olive Garden, McGillin's Olde Ale House, IHOP (Walnut Street) and a grocery store and buffet/salad bar (Chestnut and Juniper). Numerous fancy and some less formal restaurants are on South Broad Street. There are limitless breakfast and lunch opportunities at the Reading Terminal Market and perhaps 100 Asian restaurants in Philadelphia's Chinatown in the blocks North and East of the Store. There are some restaurants of all  descriptions on Chestnut and Walnut Streets headed East. Also most hotels, including the Marriottacross the street from the Store, have dining options and/or bars. Macy's no longer maintains a restaurant, although it does house a Starbuck's on Chestnut Street and 13th. A number of celebrated Italian restaurants are in South Philadelphia. An internet guide is located here.Let us know what your favorites are and we will include them. A church directory is here.
SPEND SOME TIME WITH US! Attractions near the Store include the Masonic Temple, the Pennsylvania  Academy of the Fine Arts, City Hall Tower, the  Franklin Institute, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Reading Terminal Market, Independence Hall, Society Hill Colonial homes, the Rodin Museum, the Fairmount Park houses, Penn's Landing, Laurel Hill Cemetery, the Rosenbach Museum and Library, the Mutter medical museum, the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Eastern State Penitentiary museum, theatres and nightclubs, and numerous other attractions
Hearing Philadelphia's Wanamaker Organ is a life-changing experience. Our society is sponsored by people around the world who are helping protect the world's largest playing pipe organ. We invite you to join the Friends and receive four issues of our 16-page newsletterand member-access to all Friends activities.
The Wanamaker Organ is undergoing a multi-year restoration. Divisions that have been patched together are getting a thorough restoration. Members help sustain this crucial work and our music, education and hospitality programs. Members receive all the details on the restoration and Friends concerts, as well as news of private concerts, tours, and fund-raisers.
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