Teri L. Sullivan
WKNO Promotions Manager
(901) 729-8735
tlsullivan@wkno.org
December 1, 2009
For Immediate Release
WKNO PRESENTS THE STORY AND SOUNDS
OF A MAGNIFICENT MUSICAL TREASURE
Coming in December, WKNO presents the story of a grand musical instrument that might have become yet another memory of lost Memphis, but instead found a second chance and a new home in a church in Bartlett. Mid-South Musical Treasures: A Treasure Comes to Bartlett premieres on Tuesday, December 22 at 9:00 p.m. on WKNO/ Channel 10.
This magnificent 1928 Kimball Opus 7035 pipe organ was originally installed in Ellis Auditorium in downtown Memphis, and remained there for nearly 70 years. It was removed before the auditorium was torn down to make room for the Cannon Center. The Kimball was boxed and stored at the Cook Convention Center for several years until Bartlett United Methodist Church showed an interest in it. The organ was rescued, renovated and is once again in regular use in the sanctuary of BUMC every week.
“I have always been interested in all types of music,” producer Don Grear of First Take Video says. “I wanted the story to be told by those closest to the instrument, with minimal narration.” The half-hour documentary features Dr. David Lewis, the former Bartlett pastor who was the driving force to bring the organ to Bartlett United Methodist Church, Karen Strawhecker, BUMC’s organist, Todd Wilson, BUMC’s Music Minister, and organ master Dennis Milnar of Milnar Organ Company, who directed the renovation. Dr. Steve Shapard is the narrator.
First Take Video was founded by Don Grear in 2007. Don Grear's creative touch has been in video productions that have received 30 national and international film and video awards from 10 different associations. He won an Accolade for his editing of Transported Lives: Stories of the Holocaust as Told by Memphis Survivors in 2007. Transported Lives, which aired on WKNO, was also nominated for a Regional Emmy Award.
Mid-South Musical Treasures: A Treasure Comes to Bartlett premieres on WKNO on Tuesday, December 22 at 9:00 p.m., and repeats overnight at 1:00 a.m., and Saturday, December 26 at 5:00 p.m. It also airs Wednesday, December 23 at 9:00 p.m. on WKNO2 (10.2).
WKNO is a non-profit, private foundation serving the Mid-South for more than 50 years. An important community resource, WKNO uses the power of non-commercial public broadcasting to provide the Mid-South with quality educational and cultural programs that inform, entertain, and inspire. For more information: wkno.org
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