For nearly a century, the majestic sound of the pipe organ has echoed through the soaring arches of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan. It has lifted hearts in prayer and accompanied moments of joy, sorrow, and sacred celebration. Now, after 97 years of faithful service, the cathedral’s iconic Kilgen Organ is preparing for a long-awaited and carefully planned restoration.

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“Every day we lose one note or two,” said Daniel Brondel, Associate Director of Music and organist at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral. “There are pipes that can no longer speak. And then there’s also pipes that will not stop speaking.”

Installed in 1928, the Kilgen Organ has played an integral role in the liturgical and musical life of both the cathedral and the Archdiocese of New York. But time has taken its toll. “It’s a tired instrument,” Brondel explained. “We are experiencing, and we have been for the last ten years or so, an increasing number of issues that are to be expected with a pipe organ of this size at the end of its life.”