Isolated in a tower, organist to give Easter concert in downtown Wichita

Whenever organist Lynne Davis plays the Bloomfield carillon housed in a small space at the top of the Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum, she’s always isolated away from staff and the public. And the best place to listen to the concert has always been outside.

That’s why the next concert in the Bloomfield carillon series, scheduled for noon Friday, April 10, will go on.

“It’s not so different,” Davis said about giving the concert during a state-ordered shutdown in response to the COVID-19 situation. “All I have to do is get inside.”

With arrangements made to safely allow Davis into the building, she’ll be able to take the elevator to the fourth floor of the museum and then climb the stairs to the fifth-floor tiny room that houses the carillon to give the 45- to 60-minute concert that will include classical music and a good dose of Easter-oriented hymns. The room is not accessible to the public.

Those who want to hear the organ and bell music broadcast by speakers across downtown Wichita can find ample parking spaces around the museum, located at 204 S. Main. Century II and Waterwalk parking lots are nearby.

Davis, an international concert organist and the Robert L. Town Distinguished Professor of Organ at Wichita State, is responsible for organizing the Bloomfield carillon concert series of about five to eight annual concerts that are typically held during the Friday lunchtime before select holidays. She also directs the organ program at WSU and organizes the university’s Rie Bloomfield Organ Series, in which concerts are played on WSU’s Marcussen pipe organ.

According to the Tihen Notes created by Dr. Edward Tihen who read and took notes of nearly every issue of Wichita newspapers between 1872 to 1982, the first carillon was installed in January 1954 in the museum, which at the time still housed Wichita city offices. The building, completed in 1892, was Wichita’s original city hall. The carillon was a gift from the Sam and Rie Bloomfield Foundation; Sam Bloomfield was president of Swallow Airplane Co., an early aviation company in Wichita, at the time.

The carillon that Davis will play during the April 10 concert is the third carillon that the foundation has provided. A replacement carillon was installed in 1978. When that one failed in 2018, private donors and the Bloomfield Foundation provided the $50,000 or so to purchase the current carillon. It was installed last year by the same company, Schulmerich, that had installed the original carillon. Its inaugural concert was May 11 last year to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Wichita’s Victory Arch and parade to recognize the end of World War I.

The upgraded digital carillon has an organ console with two keyboards and a pedalboard to play the bells, Davis explained. During the upgrade, speakers also were added to project the music across Heritage Square, a small courtyard adjacent to the museum. It had always been a sort of dead zone before. The square, which is accessible through the museum, will not be open during the April 10 concert.

Bloomfield Carillon Concert

When: noon Friday, April 10

Where: Live broadcast from atop the Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum, 204 S. Main

To hear the free concert: Ample parking available in nearby Century II and Waterwalk parking lots

This story was originally published April 3, 2020 at 5:00 AM.