About |
by Steve Panizza
A proud dad of three aspiring cabinet organs working to soon commission a fourth.
When I began college, I could have majored in music or engineering. I completed a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering Technology from the University of Wisconsin-Parkside. The Parkside approach to engineering was innovative and allowed me the opportunity to develop my imagination and creative side in an undergraduate-focused program. And Parkside was just down the road from Carthage.
My college years were a directed study in organ building. In addition to the engineering program at Parkside, I could spend time at nearby Carthage College in their prestigious organ program. With its four-manual baroque-inspired mechanical action pipe organ, their program would provide opportunities and connections to nurture and influence my development as a pipe organ builder.
Something unexpected happened during the pandemic. My sister and I connected with my grandfather's family in Italy. My grandfather Stefano immigrated to this country from the small village of Vermiglio in the northern Italian Alps. The Alpine region of Europe is a shared culture, regardless of national borders. I used a newfound understanding of my ancestry and upbringing to craft a design narrative that I identified as my own, seemingly passed down through an ancestry of shared cross-border culture that engendered a strong sense of community and purpose through art, architecture, and daily ritual.
Some parishes that identified as Italian-American when I was growing up now contain a substantial Hispanic population. In addition to developing the 43-note continuo design, I am working in my shop to develop a culturally inclusive visual design language that captures not just my Northern Italian ancestry but the broader makeup of those blended Italian-Hispanic congregations. If you think our neighbors to the south lack an organ culture, look here.
My workshop is in rented space at the former General Mills Research Center complex of buildings in Minneapolis. They invented Cheerios here.
