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Anthony A. Bufano

Notes

2004-10-30/2019-04-29 - Note from the OHS PC Database, derived from A Guide to North American Organbuilders, by David H. Fox (Richmond, Va.: Organ Historical Society, 1991; rev. ed., 1997, with updated information). - With Aeolian-Skinner firm of Boston, Massachusetts; partner with Gilbert F. Adams in Adams-Bufano Organ Co. of New York City, New York, 1963-1965; established his own firm, 1987; died July 6, 1994 in New York City, New York. Sources: Barbara Owen. Music, (American Guild of Organists, October 1967), 37. [Music became The American Organist beginning with the January 1972 issue. -Ed.] Uwe Pape, The Tracker Organ Revival in America, (Berlin: Pape Verlag, 1978), 409. Elizabeth Towne Schmitt. The American Organist, October 1989, 66.

2015-10-31/2019-02-11 - From the OHS Database Builders Listing editor Stephen Hall, November 17, 2016. Updated December 26, 2017 by Stephen Hall (added editor's notes and links for organs) - Anthony Bufano was born in 1941, he died July 6, 1994 in New York City, New York. Bufano began his career with the Aeolian-Skinner Organ Co. of Boston, Massachusetts; He was a foreman at the Aeolian-Skinner facility in Boston, and while there, he supervised the installation of several instruments in New York City, including the organ at Philharmonic Hall in Lincoln Center.1 Upon leaving Aeolian-Skinner, he became curator of the organ at the Riverside Church in Manhattan, a position he held for more than 30 years until his death. From 1965 to 1967, Bufano, with the assistance of other organbuilders, undertook a major rebuild of the Riverside organ; the five-manual console was rebuilt at this time. Throughout his tenure, Bufano continued to alter and augment the organ until it became the second largest pipe organ in New York City. Bufano was also a partner in Adams-Bufano Organ Co. of New York City, New York, with Gilbert F. Adams, another Aeolian-Skinner alumnus, from 1963 to 1965; afterward, each established his own firm (Bufano in 1987). Although he also built organs himself, Bufano is most often remembered for installing and maintaining many of the large Aeolian-Skinner organs in New York City, in addition to Riverside, he was also associated with the grand Aeolian-Skinner instruments at St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, the Church of the Epiphany, and the Metropolitan Opera House. 1. The organ was later removed and incorporated into the Ruffatti organ at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California. The Crystal Cathedral is now Christ Cathedral (it was acquired by the Catholic Diocese of Orange County after the Crystal Cathedral congregation disbanded. The entire organ was shipped to Italy and refurbished by Ruffati, and then re-installed in the remodeled Christ Cathedral. -Ed. Sources: David H. Fox, "Bufano, Anthony A." A Guide to North America Organ Builders, rev. ed., (Richmond, Va.: Organ Historical Society, 1997), 84-85. Obituary: "Anthony Bufano; Organ Curator, 53" The New York Times July 10, 1994. The Riverside Church. "Music & Events/Organ", accessed Nov 17, 2015, http://www.theriversidechurchny.org/events/?organ.

2015-11-17/2020-04-09 - See entries at Aeolian-Skinner Organ Co. and Adams-Bufano.

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