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When the Hendricks Chapel Choir performed an original choral piece based on Father Gerry Waterman’s favorite verse, Psalm 139, Waterman cried with tears of joy.

“Every part of me was tingling, and I was sobbing because it just touched my soul,” Waterman, a Syracuse University Catholic chaplain, said. “It was just awe inspiring.”

This was one of the many performances at the SU Catholic Center’s Dedication of the Harrold Organ event on Sunday. This is the university’s third organ. The sold-out performance, part of Hendricks Chapel’s Malmgren Concert Series, aimed to celebrate the center’s newly donated and installed organ.

For the majority of the concert, University Organist Anne Laver played the new instrument. Sometimes she played solo and other times she was accompanied by performances from Meagan Woods & Company, SU assistant teaching professor Kyra Stahr or the Hendricks Chapel Choir.

The organ was originally made by Greg Harrold in 1995 for computer engineer Alan Kay. Kay donated the organ to SU when he moved in 2023. The organ was officially installed at SU in January after the Catholic Center opened.

Laver said the organ’s addition is a milestone for the university and important for the community because of its many uses, from Catholic mass, dance, choir performances and teaching.

“It really is just an awesome moment in the program’s history, but also the Catholic community,” Laver said.

To make the organ fit in its new home, Waterman said the center had to literally raise the building’s roof to accommodate the organ’s size. But, he said it was worth it because the instrument is “priceless.”

Rebecca Kantrowitz, Syracuse University’s Hendricks Chapel Interim Dean, welcomed attendees of SU Catholic Center’s “Dedication of the Harrold Organ.” The sold-out show is part of Hendricks Chapel’s Malmgren Concert Series. Avery Magee | Photo Editor Position

Before the event, some organizers, like Sydney Pajack, were unfamiliar with the organ. Pajack, SU’s assistant director of major events, was recruited to help with the sold-out-show’s logistics, and through that, she learned about the instrument’s history.

“Seeing the excitement in Anne’s eyes and Peppie and the choir and the performers, you can tell that they have a passion for this work,” Pajack said.

After the choir sang “Fragment of a Psalm,” an original choral piece composed by SU music professor and artistic director of the Hendricks Chapel Choir José “Peppie” Calvar, the audience rose from their seats in a standing ovation, erupting in applause from the stands.

Commissioned by Chancellor Kent Syverud, Calvar created the composition to honor Waterman’s contributions to SU. This was the first time the piece was performed in front of an audience, Syverud said in his opening remarks on Sunday. Calvar said he was “overjoyed” to compose the original sound.

“The outpouring of emotion and positivity just confirmed that I was able to accomplish what he wanted me to accomplish,” Calvar said.

Calvar spent two months writing the piece and the choir practiced the piece since the beginning of the semester. The choir began learning the melody by starting with the song’s most difficult part: the middle section.

“That’s when I knew, OK, this piece is going to work really, really well for them, so I was super relieved when that happened,” Calvar said.

Those sounds show why music is vital to the Catholic community, Waterman said, because it helps amplify prayer.

“Saint Augustine said it best: Those who sing pray twice,” Waterman said. “When you can recite it, that’s a nice prayer, but when you can sing it, it’s more of your whole person putting energy into that,” Waterman said.

Published on March 29, 2026 at 10:56 pm