The Organs of the
First United Methodist Church of Pasadena

"The Organ is in truth the grandest, the most daring,
the most magnificent of all instruments invented by human genius."
Honoré de Balzac – The Duchesse De Langeais

The organ of the then new First Methodist Episcopal Church of Pasadena was dedicated in December 14, 1924.  The featured organ selection on the dedication program was “Fantasia in E minor (The Storm)” by Jacques-Nicolas Lemmens.  The organist was British born Arnold Dann who had just been chosen as Organist-Director of the musical program of the Church.

Built by the E.M. Skinner Organ Company of Boston, Massachusetts, at a cost of $52,000, the organ was the gift of Mr. and Mrs. George Maxwell.  Mr. Roy S. Kellogg was chairman of the committee which supervised the original organ installation.  Following the death of Mr. Maxwell, she made a gift of $100,000 to the Pasadena Methodist Foundation under a trust agreement which provides that income from the fund to be used to support the musical program of the Church.  Additions were made to the original organ in 1955 by Aeolian-Skinner Organ Company at a cost of $16,000.  By 1974, the organ fund had grown sufficiently to enable the Pasadena Methodist Foundation to make a generous contribution of $65,000 to reconstruct the organ. 

In 1974, the organ was rebuilt and enlarged to increase its flexibility.  New brilliance and a better balance between the five divisions of the organ were achieved by the cleaning and regulating of old pipes and the addition of new pipes chosen to blend into the original ensemble.  A new Schlicker Organ Company draw-knob console was added which was of contemporary design and the first West Coast installation of a solid state piston combination in action.  Retaining its original romantic character, the new organ now can do justice to organ musical literature from all time periods.

Click here to view the church organ specifications.

FUMC Pasadena Chapel Organ

The Chapel of First United Methodist Church, completed in 1923, was designed by architect Thomas P. Barber in the style of an English Gothic chapel.  The ceiling with its timbered work resembles the keel of an inverted ship (a symbol of the Christian church).  High on the front wall is a Tiffany window, brought from an earlier church building, with a rendition of the familiar painting Christ in the Temple by Heinrich Hofmann.  Set in the east wall are windows made by the Roy C. Baillie Studios of Los Angeles depicting various Christian symbols and imagery.  Originally there were no windows in the west wall.  During the 2006 seismic retrofit and renovation, Judson Studios of Los Angeles refurbished the existing windows and added matching new ones to the west wall after an attached building was removed.  At the same time the chancel area was redesigned and enlarged.

The organ in the chapel was built in 1930 by the Skinner Organ Company as Opus 827 for the Paul Richter residence in San Marino and enlarged from 13 ranks to 29 ranks in 1934 by the Aeolian-Skinner Organ Company as their Opus 827-A.  The instrument was built for the family’s son, J. Edward Richter (1898-1967), who donated the organ to the church when he sold the family home.  It was installed in the Chapel about 1957, replacing the Wurlitzer amplified reed organ.  As part of the recent renovation project, the organ was removed, re-leathered, and rebuilt with a new console and a new blower by Dale Schweitzer of Orange, California.  Schweitzer Pipe Organ Maintenance tunes and services both the Chapel and Sanctuary organs at First United Methodist Church still to this day.

Click here to view the chapel organ specifications.

FUMC Pasadena Organist Ae-Kyong Kim

Ae-Kyong Kim began serving as the First United Methodist Church organist in 2003.

Originally from Seoul, Korea, Ms. Kim completed her Bachelor of Music degree in Organ Performance in 1993, and earned the Master of Music degree in Organ Performance in 1995 at the University of Southern California where she studied with Dr. Ladd Thomas. While studying at USC, she was awarded several scholarships, including the Irene Robertson Endowed Scholarship and the Walter F. Skeele Scholarship Fund.

In addition to studying organ at USC, she studied Choral Conducting with Dr. James Vail and Dr. William Dehning, Instrument Conducting with Mr. Hans Beer, Accompanying with Dr. Alan Smith, and Music Theory with Dr. James Hopkins. And more recently Philip Smith, Organ Conservator at Walt Disney Concert Hall, has helped Ms. Kim to develop and enhance her organ repertoire.

Ms. Kim has participated in a number of organ performance competitions and has won several awards, including the Martha Farr Organ Scholarship Competition in 1990, the National Young Artists Competition in Organ Performance from the Pasadena Chapter of the American Guild of Organists (AGO) in 1991, and the Hunter Mead Scholarship Award in 1991.

She is an active recitalist as a soloist as well as a music festival accompanist for choral groups, including the Seoul Choral Society, Korean Christian Choral Society, and Choral Bel Canto.

Ms. Kim has also been invited to perform organ solo recitals at several prestigious venues such as St. James’ Episcopal Church in Los Angeles, the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles, St. Edmunds Episcopal Church in San Marino, and other venues for AGO member recitals. Her past work includes serving as the organist at Wilshire United Methodist Church in Los Angeles (1989–1999), at Immanuel Presbyterian Church (1999–2003), and at LA Open Door Presbyterian Church (1997–2008).

Ms. Kim is an elected Member-at-Large of the Executive Committee of the Los Angeles Chapter of the AGO. And since 2003, Ms. Kim has served as the organist at the First United Methodist Church in Pasadena.