Juneau organist wraps up 16 years of performances with holiday-themed concert Friday

a brown wooden keyboard portion of a theater organ with a lower panel removed that reveals wooden and wired components.
The Kimball organ with its bottom panel removed for tuning in the State Office Building in Juneau on March 6, 2025. (Photo by Jamie Diep/KTOO)

A Juneau musician is giving his final organ performance in the State Office Building this Friday. T.J. Duffy is retiring after 16 years of live concerts on the nearly century-old instrument.

The theater organ concert will mostly feature holiday music, according to a press release. He will also perform Christmas carols that audience members can sing along to. 

In the release, Duffy said he is retiring as a state employee at the end of the year and thought it would be a good time to retire from the organ concerts as well.

The Kimball organ is located in the State Office Building and is the only publicly available instrument of its kind in Alaska. Duffy is one of several musicians who regularly perform on Fridays.

The nearly 100-year-old instrument is nearing the end of its usable life. Repairing it would cost more than $250,000 and requires shipping it to Portland, Oregon for a year.

Duffy’s final concert will be this Friday at noon at the State Office Building.

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