Heinz Chapel: Sights (mostly) unseen
Heinz Memorial Chapel has been closed since late December as workers installed a climate control system that is designed to help preserve the chapel’s woodwork and pipe organ and maintain comfortable temperatures for guests year-round.
Most of the chapel’s organ pipes (see Jan. 22 University Times) were removed temporarily while work was underway. With extra room to traverse the pipe chambers, chapel assistant director Wendy Lau took advantage of the opportunity to share some seldom-seen parts of the neo-Gothic campus landmark.
She recently guided Susan Rice, director of the Heinz Chapel Choir, and Rice’s husband, David, to view the city from the chapel’s rooftops and spire. Earlier this year, Lau led a crew from the Let-Me-See TV YouTube channel on a similar trek. The dizzying video is posted at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8u-9G605ar0.
The chapel reopens June 1, with the first wedding scheduled for June 5.
A grand reopening concert featuring the chapel’s resident ensemble, OvreArts, is set for 7:30 p.m. June 18. The concert will include several anthems composed by Theodore Finney, the first conductor of the Heinz Chapel Choir. The free event is open to the public.
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Photos documenting the climate control project’s month-by-month progress are posted at www.heinzchapel.pitt.edu/.
—Kimberly K. Barlow