Local company providing organ for Papal Mass

GERMANTOWN (WPVI) -- Music is such an important part of all of the papal events in Philadelphia, and one local company is making sure that every song that is played outdoors will sound just as beautiful as it does inside the great cathedrals.

An organ that now sits at Cunningham Piano Company in Germantown will soon play for a bigger audience.

Its first stop is the Convention Center for Masses during the World Meeting of Families. Then it will be moved to the Ben Franklin Parkway to take part in the Papal Mass.

Co-owner Rich Galassini says they're so honored, their company is absorbing the cost of the rental. The Rodgers Infinity Model 361 weighs 1,200 pounds, is 6 feet long and 5 feet high.

And it's digital. The manufacturer used sets of microphones to record the sounds of an entire pipe, then replicated them into speakers. Galassini says it's the most popular installation in churches today because it's less expensive than building a pipe organ.

Galassini explains, "What's beautiful about this instrument is that it can replicate that so closely that most people won't know the difference, and this costs under $150,000."

Organists from the events are coming to Cunningham Piano Company to familiarize themselves with the organ and can save their choices on a memory stick.

Khiem Nguyen of St Anne's in Phoneixville will be playing Giao Uoc during Communion at the Papal Mass, while fifty people sing along in Vietnamese.

Nguyen says, "With this experience, I just hold to my heart until the day I die."

Moving the instrument is a significant undertaking. It has to be separated into three parts for transport. And keep in mind it's going to two separate locations.

"It is heavy, awkward and delicate, all at once. That's not a great combination," Galassini said.

But he is confident it will get there, and is confident in its beauty.

"The hope is that the families, the people standing will be standing on the parkway, but it will sound to them like they're in a beautiful cathedral," Galassini said.