At Our Lady of the Angels, free organ recitals unleash the majesty of Los Angeles

Los Angeles Times

06-06-2025

Even in a building as massive as the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown, the organ stands out. How could it not?
Standing 85 feet tall behind the right side of the altar, weighing 42 tons, featuring over 6,000 pipes and bearing the epic name Opus 75, it looks half smokestacks, half battleship and all awesome. It's regularly used during Mass and has hosted organists from around the world since its 2003 debut.
But what's coolest about Opus 75 — and what not enough people know — is that the Cathedral holds free lunchtime recitals featuring its star instrument on the first Wednesday of each month.
As an organ fanatic, I have long wanted to attend one. I finally had the chance this week.
Accompanied by my Times colleague (and fellow classical music head) Ruben Vives, I arrived at the cathedral during the daily 12:10 service, just before the Eucharist. Resident organist Sook Hyun Kim worked the King of Instruments like the seasoned pro she is, including a moving version of 'Make Me a Channel of Your Peace' — an apropos hymn for the era of Pope Leo XIV.
About 40 people representing the breadth of L.A. — white, Latino, Asian, Black and all age groups — spread out across the pews after Mass ended to listen to guest organist Emma Yim. The 22-year-old graduated from UCLA (Go Bruins!) two years ago with degrees in biology and organ performance. She is pursuing a master's from our alma mater in the latter discipline, does research for a UCLA Department of Medicine women's health lab and also plays the cello.
Man, and I thought I covered a lot of ground!
Her choice for the cathedral recital: three of the five movements from French composer Charles-Marie Widor's Symphony No. 5. It would be Yim's first time playing Opus 75.
The first movement was mostly variations on a cascading theme. Kim stood to Yim's side to flip the pages of the score while the latter's hands leaped around the rows of the organ's keys. Yim played at first like she didn't want to tempt the power of the behemoth before her — the notes were soft and cautious.
But during Widor's playful second movement, the young adults in attendance who had been on their smartphones began to pay attention. Heads began to sway with every swirl of Baroque-like chords that Yim unleashed. 'I could hear elements of 'Lord of the Rings' in there,' Ruben whispered to me as we looked on from our center pews.
She skipped two movements to perform the Fifth's fifth, better known as Widor's Toccata. Its soaring passages have made it a popular song for weddings. More people began to poke their head in from the hallways that ring the cathedral's worship space to see what was going on. Yim became more animated as she worked the keys and foot pedals faster and faster. High-pitched arpeggios accentuated resonant bass notes.
Kim stopped flipping the score, stepped back and looked on in awe like the rest of us as Yim roused Opus 75 to its full might.
The majesty of L.A. suddenly crossed my mind. Even in tough times like these, it's unsurpassed in beauty, in its people and especially in its capacity to surprise and delight in places expected and not. It's people like Yim and performances like hers that stir us all forward to a better place.
The recital ended. 'Beautiful, just beautiful,' Ruben said, and I agreed. The applause the crowd gave Yim was swallowed up by the cathedral's size and our sparse numbers, but she was visibly moved. 'Thank you all for coming,' the youngster quietly said, and we all went off to our day.
Kim told Ruben and me that the cathedral's organ series will take a summer break before it relaunches in September. See you then!
Polly says, 'My dad used to love the saying, 'if you're not living life on the edge, you're taking up too much space!' He would say it as reminder for himself and to my sister and I to not overthink things and to just let loose, stop worrying, or try something new.'
Peter says, 'I was around 8 or 9 years old and prattling on about something I knew nothing about, when my father sternly admonished me. He said 'Peter, you only learn when you listen, never when you talk.' His words resonated and got me to my core.'
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Today's great photo is from Times photographer Juliana Yamada at the Manhattan Beach home of Paul and Cailin Goncalves, who turned their formerly compartmentalized home and ADU into a bright, flexible family home.
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