Historic 1888 pipe organ featured at Streamwood concert
The next stop on the 2025-26 Great Elgin Pipe Organ Tour will be at 4 p.m. Sunday, April 19, at Immanuel United Church of Christ, 1500 Old Church Road in Streamwood.
Immanuel UCC’s pipe organ is one of the oldest surviving organs in the area. It was installed in 1888 in the church’s balcony at the rear of the sanctuary, but the name of the builder has since been lost. In 1982, it was restored by the Berghaus Organ Company of Bellwood, Illinois, and in recent decades, it was further enhanced with a Rodgers digital console installed by Triune Music of Elmhurst. Since the original tracker keyboard attached to the pipe facade is no longer playable, the new console allows both digital sounds and the original pipes to be played together.
The concert will include works by Stanley, Bach, Clerambault, and Nevin and will be performed by Jeff Neufeld, music director at First Congregational and the organizer of the tour.
Admission is free, and a freewill offering will be taken to support Immanuel UCC’s ministries and future organ maintenance projects.
On April 26, the concert will be at Bethlehem Evangelical Lutheran Church, 340 Grand Blvd. in Elgin.
The Great Elgin Pipe Organ Tour is a series of free concerts, begun in 2024, showcasing the many unique pipe organs in Elgin and the surrounding area.
The concerts feature local organists and the host church’s own musicians, and program content varies from formal organ repertoire to chamber ensembles, choir anthems, and hymn-sings.
The mission of the series is to revive interest in the pipe organ, open up new performance venues, and provide an affordable concert experience to the community.
Freewill offerings are taken at each concert to benefit the host church’s programs and ministries, but additional, general donations to support the organ tour or sponsor guest instrumentalists can be made to First Congregational Church.
For information, visit fcc-elgin.org/organ-tour or contact Neufeld through the church office.