{"id":462563,"date":"2026-10-11T00:42:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-11T00:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/462563\/"},"modified":"2026-10-11T00:42:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T00:42:09","slug":"music-from-heaven-fort-worth-church-celebrates-30-years-of-cliburn-organ","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/462563\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Music from heaven\u2019: Fort Worth church celebrates 30 years of Cliburn Organ"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Marissa Greene and David Moreno, Fort Worth Report
October 10, 2026<\/p>\n

Kenyon Smith is quite familiar with pipe organs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He grew up listening to the brassy tunes his father, a church organist, used to play regularly until his death two years ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since then, Kenyon and his wife, Dorothy, searched for ways to introduce their kids to the type of music sacred to their family history and Christian faith. One late September Sunday evening, the opportunity came.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the pews near the front of Broadway Baptist Church, the Smiths fully immersed themselves into the melodies pouring out of the metal pipes and reverberating throughout the sanctuary.<\/p>\n

Dorothy held one of their wiggly kids in one arm and a music program in the other. Another child sat in Kenyon\u2019s lap. In between the couple sat their oldest, attentively listening to the symphony of rich organ notes blended with her parents\u2019 melodic voices as they sang timeless hymns.<\/p>\n

\u201cO God beyond all praising,<\/p>\n

We worship you today<\/p>\n

And sing the love amazing<\/p>\n

That songs cannot repay\u201d<\/p>\n

Dorothy felt the room\u2019s energy \u2014 not only from the organ, but also through the voices of others singing around her.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s just such a power that comes from singing with a whole bunch of other Christian believers about Jesus Christ and about our faith, and there\u2019s not much stronger that you can get than feeling like there\u2019s all these people here who all unified in the same goal,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Kenyon and Dorothy Smith attend Broadway Baptist Church\u2019s Hymn Festival with their children on Sept. 27, 2026. (Marissa Greene | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n

The Smiths were one of several families in attendance at Broadway Baptist Church on Sept. 27 for a Hymn Festival celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Rildia Bee O\u2019Bryan Cliburn Organ.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The organ is the largest in Texas with roughly 10,615 pipes, said Bradley Reznicek, organist at Broadway Baptist Church for the past five years. The instrument was crafted exclusively for the church by renowned Canadian instrument company Casavant Fr\u00e8res for $2.5 million. The church and its congregants paid for most of the project.<\/p>\n

The night of harmony gave the Smiths a chance to experience a piece of Fort Worth history and reconnect with their own roots.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt felt like he was here again,\u201d Kenyon said, referring to his father.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That night\u2019s Hymn Festival was the first of three free events the Near Southside church is hosting in honor of the organ\u2019s anniversary. The Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra will perform at the church on Oct. 16, and on Oct. 25 Broadway Baptist will host a solo recital.<\/p>\n

If you go<\/p>\n

What: Organ & Orchestra: Symphonic Power Meets Organ Brilliance\u00a0<\/p>\n

When: 7:30-9:30 p.m. Oct. 16<\/p>\n

Where: Broadway Baptist Church, 305 W. Broadway Ave., Fort Worth<\/p>\n

Admission: Free<\/p>\n

What: Solo recital: One Performer, An Entire World of Sound<\/p>\n

When: 6:30 p.m. Oct. 25<\/p>\n

Where: Broadway Baptist Church, 305 W. Broadway Ave., Fort Worth<\/p>\n

Admission: Free<\/p>\n

Van Cliburn leads charge for new organ<\/p>\n

Longtime organist Albert L. Travis began playing at Broadway in the summer of 1978. When he got there, the original 1952 organ\u2019s pipes were already worse for wear.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were many pipes in the organ that had been falling over because of the heat,\u201d Travis said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Conversations about replacing the organ started to commence by the 1980s. The instrument was named after Rildia Bee O\u2019Bryan Cliburn, a dedicated Broadway Baptist congregant, arts philanthropist and noted musician perhaps better known as the mother and principal teacher of Van Cliburn \u2014 one of the world\u2019s most celebrated pianists and namesake of Fort Worth\u2019s prestigious Van Cliburn International Piano Competition<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Cliburns, described by Travis as \u201cstaunch Baptists,\u201d wanted to build an organ that would be significant for the entire community.<\/p>\n

\"\"Van Cliburn and his mother, Rildia Bee O\u2019Bryan Cliburn on March 7, 1969. (Courtesy | UTA Libraries Special Collections, Fort Worth Star-Telegram)<\/p>\n

To play the Rildia Bee O\u2019Bryan Cliburn Organ is \u201cthe dream of a lifetime for organists,\u201d Travis said \u2014 including his own.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like having an orchestra at your fingertips,\u201d Travis said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rildia Bee O\u2019Bryan Cliburn died at 97 on Aug. 3, 1994 \u2014 two years before the organ\u2019s completion. She commissioned 14 orchestral works for Broadway Baptist, according to a church program from when the organ was installed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There is a misconception that Van Cliburn donated the entire organ, but it\u2019s not true, Reznicek said. The pianist only made a substantial donation, he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A portion of the Cliburn Organ debuted to congregants in April 1995 before the instrument was completed the following year. Van Clibun told KXAS-TV<\/a>, now NBC 5 DFW, at the initial unveiling that he was happy to hear the instrument.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know she was so thrilled to be thought of, and the thought was everything,\u201d he said of his late mother.<\/p>\n

The organ\u2019s official dedication on Oct. 14, 1996, featured five days of concerts and services.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The instrument\u2019s debut marked what would have been Rildia Bee O\u2019Bryan Cliburn\u2019s 100th birthday. Van Cliburn died at 78 in 2013.<\/p>\n

Quiet whispers and grandiose music<\/p>\n

Leading God\u2019s people in song felt like a fitting way to start the organ\u2019s anniversary celebrations, Reznicek told the crowd.<\/p>\n

He pulled out all the stops that late September evening \u2014 literally and figuratively. The stop knobs on each side of the console allows air to travel to a specific set of pipes inside the organ, which each carry their own specific set of sounds.<\/p>\n

\"\"The Cliburn Organ features rows of knobs that allow the organist to choose which sets of pipes sound when a key is pressed. (David Moreno | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n

\"\"The Cliburn Organ\u2019s keys play the roughly 10,615 pipes at Broadway Baptist Church. (David Moreno | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n

As his fingers danced across the keyboard and his feet pattered the pedalboard below, wind released from the pipes filled the room with a euphonic mix of thunderous chords and whispers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sitting on that organ bench marked a full-circle moment for the organist.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Reznicek once sat in one of the church\u2019s pews as a college music student attending one of the first Cliburn Organ concerts. The minute he heard Travis play those first keys, his life changed forever.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo hear an organ like this, where you could have the quiet whisper, and then just get this grandiose sound, I find it very thrilling,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Reznicek told himself after the performance that he would one day be the organist at Broadway Baptist Church.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He spent years learning from Travis before the longtime organist retired in 2019 after 41 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When the organ arrived at the Fort Worth church, it was unlike anything the then-56-year-old Travis had ever experienced. As a teenager, thinking about spending his life as an organist, he never imagined he would get to play an organ so grand.<\/p>\n

After the new organ was installed, the church began hosting Hymn Festivals, for all to hear the sounds of the new instrument.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first Sunday and the first few concerts were just like music from heaven,\u201d Travis said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Albert L. Travis, left, hugs Bradley Reznicek, right, after Broadway Baptist Church\u2019s Hymn Festival on Sept. 27, 2026. (Marissa Greene | Fort Worth Report)
\n\u2018In your soul\u2019<\/p>\n

Looking to expand the organ\u2019s reach to more people in the community, Broadway congregant Roseann Harris helped launch InspireArts in 2022. The group, which operates under the church\u2019s nonprofit, raises funds to maintain the instrument, host concerts and create educational programming for students.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost people don\u2019t have an opportunity to hear an organ of that quality and that sound,\u201d Harris said. \u201cIt\u2019s just one of those things that reaches deep down in your soul.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before the night of the Hymn Festival came to a close, there was one final act \u2014 \u201cToccata on MARION,\u201d or \u201cToccata On Rejoice Ye Pure In Heart,\u201d written by Travis himself.<\/p>\n

\n