08/02/2026
The Greenleaf Organ Company is pleased to announce a new contract for the rebuilding of the 1970 M.P. Moller pipe organ, opus 10417, at the Church in the Abbey of St. Procopius, Lisle, Illinois.
The Abbey of St. Procopius in Lisle, Illinois was constructed between 1968-1970 after a groundbreaking and award-winning design by Edward Dart, A.I.A., of the Chicago architectural firm Loebl, Schlossman, Bennett & Dart. The design of the building is a master-study in architectural modernism, with every detail of the physical plant both intimately related to the hill-top site and intrinsically responsive to the traditional tenets of communal Benedictine life; an exposé demonstrating the highest levels of architecture as art and also as functionally responsive in a timeless way. The facility and campus received an A.I.A. Award in 1978.
The pipe organ in the Abbey Church was designed and installed by the now-defunct firm of M.P. Moller, of Hagerstown, Maryland. Completed in 1970 and designated as their Opus 10417, this organ shows the hallmarks of the typical trends and fads idiomatic to American organbuilding in the early 1970’s but also reveals a more-than usual responsiveness (at least for Moller!) to the special demands created by the design of the Abbey, revealing a collaborative effort between church architect and organbuilder that does not always exist, even today.
Greenleaf has responded to an invitation issued by the Abbey and Consultant Scott R. Riedel & Associates to rebuild the organ, including the replacement of the existing electro-pneumatic windchests with new all-electric slider-and-pallet windchests, obviating the need for future pneumatic releathering, which is now required.
The organ is to be augmented by the addition/substitution of new stops to increase the versatility of the instrument, while also respecting the organ’s existing visual and tonal aesthetic.
As constructed by Moller, much of the organ interior is completely inaccessible for any kind of service work, and tuning is hazardous at best. Importantly, the relocation of the wind system to the space below the organ will create the opportunity for better access to action components from underneath, along with improved tuning access from above. Above all, the visual appearance of the organ in the iconic chapel will be preserved and maintained during this course of work, resulting in a final appearance that defers to the award-winning architectural design of the space, and a tonal appointment that capitalizes on the generous acoustic.
