The Rise and Fall of Ernest M. Skinner: 1885-1950
Drawing upon three decades of archival and site research, Jonathan Ambrosino provides new illumination on the career arc of Ernest M. Skinner, America’s most influential American organbuilder.
Jonathan Ambrosino
Boston native Jonathan Ambrosino is an organ technician, consultant, and journalist. He has been involved with tonal restoration projects on important twentieth-century American organs, most recently the 1927 Skinner at St. Paul’s, Rochester; the 1930 Aeolian at Longwood Gardens; and the 1938 Kimball at St. John’s Cathedral, Denver. As a consultant, he has served more than 130 churches and schools, surveying organs and guiding projects of many kinds. Known for speaking and writing, he has been Choir & Organ’s chief correspondent for the United States organ building scene. At home, he curates select Boston-area instruments, including those of Old South Church and Church of the Advent, and is currently engaged in the restoration of a 1929 Skinner for his home church, the Parish of All Saints, Ashmont. He is a past president of the Organ Historical Society, and served on the committee for the Longwood Gardens International Organ Competition.