Organ Professor Don Cook Gave the Winter 2025 Office Professionals Across Campus Lecture Where He Shared Details About the New Concert Hall Organ and Gave an Exclusive Behind-the-Scenes Tour
The winter 2025 Office Professionals Across Campus (OPAC) guest lecturer was School of Music professor Don Cook. Having been an organ professor since 1991, Cook coordinates the organ area, oversees an innovative organ performance program and serves as the University’s carillonneur for the BYU Centennial Carillon Tower.
The OPAC lecture focused on the new Concert Hall organ — with Cook detailing all the specifications of the instrument and giving students a special look at the inner workings of the one-of-a-kind Letourneau organ. He began by giving the technical specifications of the organ [see call-out box right].
“We wanted it to have its own personality and that it has,” Cook said.
During the lecture, Cook demonstrated a wide variety of sounds. Each stop makes a different sound, many of which imitate instruments of the orchestra, like the flute or the tuba. The organ has a powerful combination action that allows players to preset combinations that can be recalled in an instant.
After detailing the mechanics and demonstrating the functions of the organ, Cook shared an “organ crawl” video he made that took viewers behind the organ to places rarely seen by the public.
Cook’s enthusiasm for the new organ shone clearly as he described playing the instrument. “It was truly a mountaintop moment in my life to perform for the first time as organ soloist and with the BYU Philharmonic orchestra on a major pipe organ that I helped create. We designed it to be loved by the School of Music students, ensembles, faculty, audiences, and by organ lovers everywhere.”
Want to experience the beautiful swells of the organ yourself? Check out the remaining winter 2025 organ concerts here.