Our Team
Martin Pasi
Master organ builder Martin Pasi received his first formal experience in organ building during a four-year apprenticeship with the Rieger Company in his native Austria, and since opening his first shop in 1990, he has completed 30 instruments.
Markus Morscher
Markus Morscher was born into a family which has practiced woodworking for several centuries. He formally studied woodworking in Braz, Austria, and has completed masterworks in furniture, architectural elements, and cabinetry. Markus has spent over three decades as an organ builder, making cases, windchests and other wooden components for all the organs in the oeuvre of Pasi Organ Builders.
Christian Metzler
Christian’s journey as an organ builder began in his native Austria with the renowned firm of Rieger Orgelbau. After his apprenticeship at Rieger, Metzler worked in the United States with Martin Pasi, helping to build the landmark cathedral organ in Omaha, Nebraska. He returned to Europe to build organs with Orgelbau Wech in southern Germany, and then worked in Palestine as an independent organ builder before returning to Rieger in 2010. During his recent tenure with Rieger, Metzler voiced organs all over the globe, from South Africa to Scandinavia to East Asia, among them several notable cathedral and concert hall organs. He has specialized in the design and construction of free reed stops.
Fr. Lew Grobe, O.S.B.
Fr. Lew Grobe, O.S.B., is a monk of Saint John’s Abbey. He learned woodworking under the guidance of master woodworker Michael Roske. Fr. Lew also serves as Director of Saint John’s Abbey Organ Builders and Saint John’s Abbey Woodworking.
Kevin Vogt
Kevin Vogt been a full-time church musician and organist for over 35 years, and a university teacher of organ and church music for over 15 years. He received degrees in organ from St. Olaf College, the University of Notre Dame, and the University of Kansas, and has served as organ consultant for the commissioning and building of several organs by some of North America’s finest organ builders. He has enjoyed a close association with Martin Pasi for over 25 years, and now provides support for Saint John’s Abbey Organ Builders assisting with client relations, project and concept development, and educational initiatives.
K.C. Marrin
K.C Marrin graduated from Saint John’s University in 1971. Under the mentorship of Br. Hubert Schneider, OSB, he developed a life-long interest in fine woodworking and began an on-going friendship with the Collegeville Benedictine Community. As a regional pipe organ serviceman, he tuned, repaired, and restored instruments primarily in Stearns County, MN, later designing and building 11 new instruments in his shop in Cold Spring, MN. He also assisted Martin Pasi in the recent expansion of the abbey’s Holtkamp pipe organ and collaborated in the design of the new Abbey Woodshop.
Br. Benedict Leuthner, O.S.B.
Br. Benedict is the Senior Business Advisor for Abbey Woodworking and Abbey Organ Builders. Prior to this role, he served as the Treasurer for the Order of Saint Benedict/Saint John’s Abbey for 28 years, where he was responsible for overseeing finances, investments, and the management of the Abbey’s physical plant and land operations.
As a hobby, Br. Benedict enjoys planting and nurturing trees in the Abbey Arboretum, which will be used by Abbey Woodworkers and Organ Builders (in 60-80 years).
Zaida Carpenter
Apprentice Zaida Carpenter hails from a small farm in Wisconsin. She is the third of six children. Zaida’s passion for music and her desire to work with her hands naturally led her to become an organ building apprentice at Abbey Organ Builders. She is currently working in the pipe shop, learning to make metal pipes.
Rain Daley
Originally from Seattle, Rain pursued training through a furniture program in Minnesota after a service term in the health sector of the Peace Corps. Following the completion of the furniture program, he began a position at Paul Fritts & Co Organ Builders. After working as a woodworker with Fritts for over four years, he moved back to Minnesota to join the team at Abbey Organ Builders in August 2025.
Steven Jett
Pipe maker Steven Jett attended the North Carolina School of the Arts Conservatory of Music, where he developed an appreciation for keyboard instruments and the craftsmanship behind their construction. He learned pipe making as an apprentice at Taylor & Boody Organ Builders under Robbie Lawson, and went on to work for Pasi Organ Builders and Paul Fritts & Company Organ Builders. He is a certified piano technician and owner of Jett Piano Services of Tacoma, Washington.
David Schedler
David Schedler apprenticed as a furniture maker in his native Austria, and worked for five more years at Tischlerei Wolfgang Meusburger in Reuthe, Vorarlberg. In June 2025, he began a training program in organ building at Saint John’s Abbey Organ Builders.
Lena Raffler
Lena Raffler is a dedicated and experienced organ builder with over 10 years of experience in the construction and restoration of pipe organs. Skilled in both historical and modern organ building techniques, she has deep knowledge of both mechanical and electric action systems. A native of the Austrian state of Styria, Lena received her vocational training in Vienna and Ludwigsburg, Germany, and has previously worked for Rieger Orgelbau and Vonbank Orgelbau. She is currently employed by Saint John’s Abbey Organ Builder, involved in general organ building, installation, pipe making, and voicing.
Our Wider Community
The Abbey Woodshop is also home to Saint John’s Abbey Woodworking and Abbey Artisans. We collaborate and share the space with Abbey woodworkers, student workers from CSB/SJU, and volunteers (pictured here).
