Pipe Organ Database

For further information, see: Orgues Létourneau Ltée.

From the OHS Database Builders Listing editor, Mar 29, 2016 —

Fernand Létourneau began working in the pipe organ industry as an apprentice voicer for Casavant Frères in February 1965. He continued there for 14 years, initially under the tonal direction of Lawrence I. Phelps and later Gerhard Brunzema. In his final four years with Casavant, he was the company's head voicer and tonal finisher. With Brunzema's encouragement, Mr. Létourneau developed an appreciation for historic pipe organs and their preservation which led to a study trip in 1978 to Europe to examine voicing techniques. The following year, he started his own company in Sainte-Rosalie, Quebec, Canada, later relocating it to Saint-Hyacinthe. Mr. Létourneau served as co-president of the joint AIO-ISO convention during the summer of 2010 in Montréal.

Affiliations:

• American Institute for Organbuilders (AIO)
• The International Society of Organbuilders (ISO)

Source: Letourneau Orgues, Ltd. English language website, accessed January 20, 2016, http://letourneauorgans.com/en/staff.php.

From the OHS PC Database, derived from A Guide to North American Organbuilders by David H. Fox (Organ Historical Society, 1991). —

Nephew of Jean-Paul Létourneau; with Casavant firm of Saint-Hyacinthe, Québec, Canada, 1965-1978, voicer; studied in Europe, 1978; established Les Orgues Létourneau, January 1979; in Sainte Rosalie, Québec, Canada; in Saint-Hyacinthe, Québec, Canada; active in 1996.

Sources:

• American Institute of Organbuilders (AIO): 1989 membership directory.
• The American Organist May 1985, 59.