‘Phantom of the Pipes’ Organ Concert Friday

On Friday, Oct. 31, Performance Music at The University of Scranton will present a Halloween recital entitled, "Phantom of the Pipes," featuring renowned organist Christopher Johnson performing a program centered around the themes of death, transfiguration and resurrection. The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Houlihan-McLean Center, Mulberry Street and Jefferson Avenue, downtown Scranton. Admission is free and the concert is open to the public. Seating is on a first-come, first-seated basis.

A native of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Johnson is a member of acclaimed chamber orchestra The Knights. He serves as Director of Music and Organist at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Scranton and as Director of Chapel Music at The Interchurch Center in New York City on Manhattan's Upper West Side. In addition to previous appointments as Director of Music and Organist at The Riverside Church in New York City, Artist-in-Residence at Union Theological Seminary and Director of Music and Organist for the Woodstock/St. Paul Community at Columbia University, he also served as Assistant Organist at Christ Church United Methodist in Manhattan. While pursuing undergraduate and graduate studies at The Cleveland Institute of Music, Manhattan School of Music and Yale's Institute of Sacred Music, his teachers included Adeline Huss, Todd Wilson and Thomas Murray for organ studies, and Joshua Smith, John Mack and Robert Vernon for orchestral studies. As a flautist and organist, he performs regularly with Ensemble Eccolo, a chamber ensemble based in Altenburg, Germany, presenting concerts throughout Europe and the Middle East. An enthusiastic and avid flyer of airplanes and lover of languages, Johnson is a type-rated commercial pilot with five flight and ground instructor ratings and dabbles in German, Norwegian and Egyptian Arabic.

The University of Scranton's Houlihan-McLean Center Austin Opus 301 symphonic organ was built in 1910 by the Austin Organ Company of Hartford Connecticut for the Immanuel Baptist Church in Scranton. It was restored and rededicated by the University in 2005 in a recital performed by Thomas Murray of Yale University. Since then, many renowned organists have performed on the instrument in solo-recitals. It has accompanied the University's student ensembles in the performance of many major works of the choral and instrumental repertoires. The instrument is one of the few rare surviving original examples of early 20th-century organ building and the impressive instrument possesses a total of 3,178 pipes, 45 ranks and four manuals. The instrument is maintained by Stephen L Emery, Inc.: Pipe Organ Tuning and Restoration.

For further information on the concert, call 570-941-7624, email [email protected] or visit scranton.edu/music.

If You Go:

What: PHANTOM OF THE PIPES featuring organist Christopher Johnson
When: Friday, Oct. 31, 2025, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Houlihan-McLean Center, Mulberry Street and Jefferson Avenue, downtown Scranton
Admission: Free