The Cathedral Church of St. Paul
An Episcopal Cathedral

815 High Street
Des Moines, Iowa 50309
515.288.7297

Casavant Opus 3719

The magnificent Casavant organ, installed beginning in 1993, has established itself as a landmark instrument in the Midwest, receiving acclaim from visiting local organists and internationally known concert artists.  A significant annual series of musical events, many of which include the organ, has been hosted with great success by the Cathedral Arts Committee.  Casavant has been equally proud of the instrument. 

History

In 1990, St. Paul's began an intensive search of representative organs throughout North America to find an instrument to replace our water-damaged Reuter organ that would meet St. Paul's future needs as a cathedral.  Casavant Frères Ltd. of St. Hyacinthe, Quebec, was selected to build the new organ. 

The organ design consisted of 68 ranks of pipes, 51 speaking stops, 3,916 pipes, and a three-manual console.  The specification was designed to accompany festive services and the traditional choral literature in keeping with the great Episcopal traditions.  The organ chamber was refurbished at the same time the instrument was installed.   The chancel was enlarged, with expanded seating for the choir and liturgical participants, to accommodate larger liturgies.  

The architectural changes and structural upgrades required extensive interface between our resident architect and parishioner John Wetherell, Neumann Brothers, and Casavant. Organist David Raymond traveled to Quebec to inspect the new organ on the staging floor at the Casavant shop. The organ was then shipped to Des Moines in June 1993 on two large 18-wheel trucks.

The biggest challenge was getting the 2,700-pound console into the building.  The monumental floods of 1993 slowed the installation (with no water in the city of Des Moines, including the church), forcing the French-speaking Casavant installers to be relocated to different hotels three times. 

Once the organ was installed, tonal finishing began, much of it at night to avoid routine traffic noise.  David Raymond played the dedicatory recital in October 1993 as part of a weeklong festival of nightly events featuring a variety of organists from Iowa and the Midwest. 

The Organist

David Raymond began study of piano at age five and organ at age thirteen, with Edna Scotten Billings, Organist/Choirmaster at Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral in Kansas City.  He continued studies at Baker University and completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Kansas.  His principal teachers were Lester Groom and Douglas Brown (Baker University), and James Moeser (University of Kansas).  He has had summer studies with Harold Gleason, Catherine Crozier, Anton Heiller, and Alec Wyton. 

He has performed on many of the great organs in the U.S., including Grace Cathedral (San Francisco), the Air Force Academy Chapel, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine (New York), the Mormon Tabernacle, and others. 

Since 1988, Raymond has been organist at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul and presided over the design and installation of the 68 rank Casavant organ.  He is a past Dean of the South Central Alaska (Anchorage) and Central Iowa (Des Moines) Chapters of the American Guild of Organists.