SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - The Dayton Art Institute has been meticulously refurbishing a 1931 Skinner pipe organ to add 21st century improvements while faithfully maintaining the historical sound of the original instrument. The institute has now asked Trudy Faber, professor and chair of the department of music at Wittenberg, to be the first to play the refurbished organ on Sunday, Oct. 26, at a rededication recital beginning at 2 p.m. in the NCR Renaissance Auditorium.

The main chest leather on the pipe organ is still original and in great working order. The leathers on the main reservoirs were redone, and the organ console was remodeled. New keyboards and solid state controls rather than the old pneumatic switches are now in place, and a new digital playing mechanism with recording capabilities that can exactly duplicate a live performance is featured.

Faber holds a master of arts from Smith College and has done additional graduate work at both Stanford University and the New England Conservatory. She has studied organ and harpsichord under Gustav Leonhardt as a Fulbright Scholar at the Amsterdam Conservatory, as well as organ with Anton Heiller and harpsichord with Kenneth Gilbert at the International Summer Organ Concours, The Netherlands. In addition, she has toured Europe as a recitalist, and she was selected to perform on the Distinguished Organists Recital Series at the West Point Cadet Chapel, New York, which features the third largest organ in the world.

Faber is accustomed to playing dedication recitals. She has even played on the same organ in Stormtal, Germany, on which once Bach played.