Organ transplant: How a pipe organ wound up in a St. John's living room

Some homes have pianos in their living rooms, but Sabina Wilhelm is probably the only person in St. John's with a much bigger keyboard instrument in her house — a  pipe organ.

"Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would have one of my father's instruments," said Wilhelm.

She acquired the organ last year, when her father, Karl Wilhelm, a retired pipe organ builder in Quebec, alerted her to its existence in St. John's.

'This is the real thing ... It's like having real marble or real gold."- Sean Jackman, pipe organ expert

Karl Wilhelm had built the instrument in 1972 for Western University in London, Ontario.

In 1992, a St. John's dentist and avid pipe organist, Dr. David Peters, bought it and had it shipped to his St. John's home.Peters passed away in 2016, and Karl Wilhelm had been helping the Peters family find a buyer for it.

"I told my father, 'Well, if they don't have a buyer we would certainly be happy to house this organ,'" said Wilhelm.

"And my father just ran with that."

Instrument moved by crane 

The 2.5-metre tall instrument, complete with multiple keyboards, hundreds of metal pipes and a full set of foot pedals, had to be moved from Peters's condo to Wilhelm's house with a crane and a staff of professional movers.

Most of the time, it stands majestically — but silently — in Wilhelm's living room.

Wilhelm plays the flute, and her daughters both play the violin, but she said no one in her family plays the pipe organ.

"I think this is great," said Sean Jackman, a pipe organist from Mount Pearl, based in Michigan, as he inspected the large instrument in Wilhelm's living room.

"I mean, if I lived in St. John's, I would be over here playing this."

Jackman said he is familiar with some of Karl Wilhelm's other pipe organs which are in use in the United States.  

"This is the sound that would have been on the Bach organs in Germany, this is the real thing," said Jackman.  

"It's like having real marble or real gold."

Concert possibilities 

Wilhelm said she is considering inviting local organists to hold small concerts in her living room.

Regardless of how often it gets played, Wilhelm said the pipe organ is a well loved part of her family's heritage.

"My father, every organ he built was like one of his long-lost children," said Wilhelm.

"The organ was built the same year I was born, so it feels like I've been reunited with my long-lost sister."