Master craftsman Gabriel Kney built an enduring musical legacy

When the massive pipe organ at Toronto’s Roy Thomson Hall roars to life, it bears the distinctive signature of Gabriel Kney, the master craftsman who painstakingly fashioned the instrument and gave it a voice.Mr. Kney and his small team devoted 20,000 hours at his workshop in London, Ont., to building it, drawing on an eclectic set of skills: fine woodworking to construct the cabinet, engineering to create the intricate mechanical action of the keys. Most importantly Mr. Kney drew on his remarkable musical ear to give each of the organ’s 5,207 pipes a certain tone that could be played in myriad combinations to create majestic harmonies.