The pipes of Portland’s Kotzschmar Organ on Friday will be in the hands of Jens Korndoerfer, who will play a program featuring music from “The Lord of the Rings.” Photo courtesy of Friends of the Kotzschmar Organ

Oh, Gandalf boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling.

Or they will be, on Friday, when a Kotzschmar Organ concert at Merrill Auditorium in Portland is slated to include songs from the popular “Lord of the Rings” films.

Fans of the wizard Gandalf and other characters from the J.R.R. Tolkien stories will be treated to a medley of “Lord of the Rings” music from the first two films in the series, which came out in 2001 and 2002.  The songs “May It Be,” “Rohan” and “Concerning Hobbits (The Shire)” will be performed near the end of the program.

Guest organist Jens Korndoerfer said he picked the “Lord of the Rings” songs, and several other pieces he’ll perform, so he could make full use of “the stunning special features of the Kotzschmar Organ, especially the percussion effects.”

Guest organist Jens Korndoerfer program on the Kotzschmar Organ in Portland Friday will include tunes from “The Lord of the Rings” films. Photo courtesy of Friends of the Kotzschmar Organ

“The score to many movies is often orchestral, and when one has an instrument such as the Kotzschmar Organ, which is basically a huge symphonic orchestra that can be played by just one person, it is very convincing,” said Korndoerfer, organist at the First Presbyterian Church in Atlanta.

Korndoerfer said the mighty organ can “sustain sound infinitely” and produce trumpet sounds, which are perfectly suited to the epic and dramatic feel of the “Lord of the Rings” music. The film’s music was composed by Howard Shore, who won three Oscars for his work on the “Lord of the Rings” and “Hobbit” films.

The Kotzschmar Organ has five keyboards, 330 keys and more than 7,000 pipes. It was built into the city-owned Merrill Auditorium at City Hall in 1912. The city’s current curator of the organ, municipal organist James Kennerley, said he always looks for ways to expand the audience for the organ, and he thinks Korndoerfer’s program will help do that. He said the Friday concert will appeal to fans of “Lord of the Rings” as well as classical music lovers. Speaking of introducing new audiences to the organ, Kennerley has scheduled a Nov. 16 concert that will feature ’70s disco tunes, with local band Motor Booty Affair sharing the stage with the organ.

Besides the “Lord of the Rings” medley, Korndoerfer said other highlights of the program will include German composer Richard Wagner’s “Flying Dutchman” overture and “Variations on theme of Paganini” by Australian organist and composer George Thalben-Ball. Other works in the concert are by Max Reger, Louis Vierne, Charles Ives and Johann Strauss, Sr.

“Jens has crafted a program that takes full advantage of the majesty of the organ,” Kennerley said.

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