A modern symphonic concert organ with French characteristics was installed in Slovakia's first concert hall by the renowned Austrian organ builder Rieger Orgelbau. The company was selected on the basis of a public tender using the competitive dialogue method from among nine applicants. This was the first time in history that a renowned foreign company had built a pipe organ for a concert hall in Slovakia.
The organ for the Slovak Philharmonic has 66 stops and three manuals. It is one of the largest pipe organs in Slovakia (see organ disposition). It was built based on traditional organ building techniques. It has classic slider chests with a combined playing action (mechanical/electrical) and an electric stop action. It has two consoles, a mechanical one in the base of the organ case and a movable console with both actions being electric. The organ uses setzer-type memory combinations, implemented by the so-called Rieger-Electronic-Assistant, the company's own electronic system. This system offers separate cards or keys to a database of sound combinations in the basic offer for 10 organists, each of whom has 66,500 options for storing sound combinations. The system also allows remote control of tones and registers for convenient tuning of the instrument, as well as the ability to record and play back compositions. The system also allows remote control of tones and registers for convenient tuning of the instrument, as well as the ability to record and play back compositions.
Number of registers: 66
Number of pipes: 4725
Smallest pipe: 8 mm
Largest pipe:
– length 10 m
– weight 200 kg
Types of wood used (12 types):
– oak, spruce, fir, beech, hornbeam, cherry, linden, walnut, pine, pear and exotic woods grenadilla (half-tone keys, register sliders) and satinwood (register sliders).
Air consumption when playing tutti 60 m³ per minute.
Pressure 80-100 mm WS (800-1000 Pa).