Rhonda Edgington: New CD, concert to celebrate special pipe organ, unusual repertoire

EDITOR'S NOTE: The views and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not of Ottawa News Network.

People ask me all the time what my favorite pipe organ in Holland, Michigan, is, and that’s a little bit like asking a parent who their favorite child is. So, while I love playing the organ at Hope Church (where I’ve been the organist since 2012) each Sunday, I also love the gorgeous pipe organ built by Martin Pasi for Grace Episcopal Church, especially if I’m playing the music of the German Baroque, which was the focus of my years studying in Germany. 

But that’s not all this instrument is suited for playing well, and I wanted to show off the variety of sounds and styles that it’s capable of, by recording a CD and now playing a concert featuring some of the variety of that music.

If you ask most authors or musicians, they will admit to having boxes in their basement, holding the remnants of previous book or recording projects. And that’s the main reason I hesitated on pressing a batch of new CDs in the year 2026, at 51 years of age, when who knows how many decades I have left to get rid of them.

And then there’s the question of who is still buying books and music. That’s an interesting topic, and not quite as clear-cut as some people would have you believe. I’ll have some more thoughts on that on my Substack,, but for now I will say — if you’re one of those people still buying physical music, this might be just the thing for you.  

I’m releasing a new CD and playing a concert to celebrate at 4 p.m. Sunday, May 31, at Grace Episcopal Church in Holland. The disc has music of 17th- and 18th-century Germany contrasted with music of 21st-century women composers from the U.S., Canada and England. It’s lots of colorful and interesting tunes that I’m excited about getting into folks’ hands and out of the boxes in my house!    

When I moved to Holland in 2011, I came from Bremen, Germany, where my family and I had lived for seven years because of my Fulbright grant, to study the organs and music of 17th- and 18th-century North Germany. I missed those beautiful pipe organs that had been my focus during those years, and so I sought out American pipe organ builders who were influenced by that style. 

Some small organ-building workshops in the U.S. are influenced by the organ-building style of Northern Europe. Grace Episcopal Church in Holland holds a unique pipe organ that was built by Martin Pasi, an Austrian who apprenticed in Europe to be an organ builder, and in his late 20s moved to the U.S. to build instruments here. He established his own studio near Seattle in 1990 and built scores of instruments for churches around the country. Though he has two pipe organs in the Chicagoland area, this was the first built by him in Michigan.     

After the organ was installed, I was invited to perform a concert on the Pasi for a regional gathering of organists. For that concert, I wanted to showcase not only the music of Northern Germany that I loved and was a specialist in, but also the music of living women composers. I also wanted to prove to other organists that an instrument like that wasn’t suited for “only Bach.” Thus, the title of the CD, "Beyond Bach," points to other lesser-known composers of Bach’s time, as well as contemporary composers.  

I’ll be selling copies of my CD at the concert at Grace, but if you can’t be there, feel free to reach out to me and arrange to get your own copy another time. As the boxes in my basement will attest, I can definitely help you out (along with your neighbor and your college roommate) and will be happy to further your education into the wide variety of organ music from the 17th century to today, all played on one of Holland’s nicest little pipe organs.

— Rhonda Sider Edgington is the Organist and Music Director at Hope Church in Holland, teaches organ at Calvin University and Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, and as a soloist and with duo Thunder & Wind (with Carolyn Koebel, percussion) travels to play concerts around West Michigan and throughout the country. Find more of her writings on music at rhondasideredgington.substack.com.

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