Gabriel Kney

Gabriel Kney (born 21 November 1929) is a Canadian builder of pipe organs based in London, Ontario.

Kney was born in Speyer, Germany. At the age of 15, he apprenticed to Paul Sattel of Speyer to become an organ builder, and concurrently studied organ and composition with Erhard Quack and Ludwig Doerr at the Bishop’s Institute for Church Music in Speyer.

In 1951, he moved to Canada to work as a voicer with the Keates Organ Co.[1][2]

In 1955 he formed with John Bright the Kney and Bright Organ Co to build tracker organs. Blanton (1957) described their first instrument as "a handsome little organ with mechanical action, slider chests, 1-3/4" pressure".[3] They were at the vanguard of the tracker organ revival in Canada, so much so that they were then to build 30 electro-pneumatic organs before customers caught on and started ordering instruments with mechanical action. In the early 1960s, they rebuilt the organs of Aeolian Hall in London and St Michael's Cathedral in Toronto.

In 1967, Kney formed Gabriel Kney Pipe Organ Builders, Ltd., and by 1990 he and his seven employees had built more than 110 organs for customers across the United States and Canada. Some of the best examples of this company's designs are the organs of Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto, Ontario,[4] Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral in Kansas City,[5] Christ Church Parish in Pensacola, Florida,[6] and the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota.[7][8]

  1. ^ Bouchard, Antoine; Graham, Melva. "Kney, Gabriel". Encyclopedia of Music in Canada. Archived from the original on 2006-05-02. Retrieved 2008-04-19.
  2. ^ "Organs in Ames Churches". Ames Historical Society. Archived from the original on 8 February 2012. Retrieved 2008-04-20.
  3. ^ Blanton, Joseph E. (1957). The organ in church design. Albany Tx: Venture Press. p. 431.
  4. ^ Komisaruk, Kevin (2005). "Gabriel Kney Pipe Organ, Opus 95, 1981". The Corporation of Massey Hall and Roy Thomson Hall. Retrieved 2008-04-19.[permanent dead link]
  5. ^ "About the Cathedral's organ". Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral. Archived from the original on 7 July 2011. Retrieved 2008-04-19.
  6. ^ "Christ Church (Episcopal)". American Guild of Organists - Pensacola Chapter. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 2008-04-20.
  7. ^ "Gabriel Kney · Opus 105". University of St. Thomas. Archived from the original on 3 November 2013. Retrieved 2008-04-19.
  8. ^ "1987 Kney organ at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN". American Public Media. Archived from the original on August 21, 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-19.