The Concert Church

The entrepreneur and donor Günther Weber

Günther Weber founded his company Weber Fleischereitechnik GmbH (today Weber Maschinenbau GmbH) in Breidenbach in1981. Weber Machinenbau is a world market leader in the production of Slicer (high-performance cutting machines) for the food-processing industry and has worldwide more than 1,000 employees. After the reunification of Germany, Günther Weber expanded his production sites to the north eastern part of Germany. In 1999 he built a factory in Neubrandenburg and six years later a second one in Groß Nemerow. These two cities have become a second home for Mr. Weber.

Günther Weber explained: “It is a heartfelt wish to give back something of our success to the society.” In Neubrandenburg he has shown us how to put this principle into practice. In the summer of 2015 Mr. Weber attended a concert in the Concert Church and subsequently wards he decided to donate 2 million euro for the construction of a new concert organ. This organ will be dedicated in July 2017 on Mr. Weber’s 70th birthday.

The factories

The two organ workshops, Karl Shuke Berliner Orgelbau und Johannes Klais Bonn, were asked to build the new concert organ. The decision to have them work together was made because both companies have concentrated on the theme of a concert organ in a concert hall. Their target was the development of an organ for the Concert Church Neubrandenburg which unites the broad and complementary experiences of both workshops.

The concept

Static conditions in the hall challenge and promote the creative handling with the possible resources. That’s why the concept of the organ is based on two unusual completely equipped manual stops. This instrument is in all situations an equivalent partner to the orchestra. The concept is completed by a range of twelve more timbres, which expand the sound in colour. These timbres are available in different tone pitches. To use the opportunities of these timbres in entirety both consoles were each equipped with four manual keyboards. A division of the additional timbres allow a comfortable handling as usual. The concept has been developed in cooperation with the Lativan concert organist Iveta Apkalna and the Berlin organ expert Michael Bernecker.

Facts of the organ

• 70 stops (individual selectable timbres)
• Two consoles with each four manuals, one at the organ, the other mobile on the stage
• 2,852 pipes, 351 of wood and 2,501 of different tin-alloys
• Longest pipe: 6 metres long, produces a tone with 16 vibrations per second; the lower range of human hearing is approximately at 20 vibrations, so you feel the tone more than you hear it
• Smallest pipe: 11 millimetre, produces a tone with 15,600 vibrations per second; this frequency is short before the upper hearing threshold
• Width of the organ: 8 metres
• Height: 12 metres
• Depth behind the visible front pipes: 3,30 metres
• Weight: approx. 21 tonnes
• More information: informationsmappe-zum-orgeleinbau-fuer-besucher-kk