Cameron Carpenter

Cameron Carpenter
To his credit are his original compositions; film scores, especially from Japanese anim?; and improvisations influenced by folk song, jazz, soul, disco and pop. Cameron Carpenter, 28, is a former child prodigy and a genius organist.

Demonstrating his unique and amazing talent as virtuoso, tone-painter, composer and philosopher, his thinking is 'out of the box', with a freshness of vision that this instrument sorely needs.

Coming from Meadville, Pennsylvania, a small town in the rural northwestern part of the state, Carpenter Cameron is probably the most controversial organist alive. His concert attire, demeanor, repertory and performance style are all unconventional.

Carpenter was discovered at age 11 by James Litton of The American Boychoir School and traveled to Princeton, New Jersey to join the choir. He performed Bach's complete Well-Tempered Clavier at age 11.

During this time he performed extensively as an organ soloist during the Boychoir's US and European tours; and in collaborations with major orchestras such as the American and National Symphonies and the Philadelphia Orchestra. At age 13 he gave his first European debut for an audience of 3,000 at the Dome Cathedral in Riga, Latvia.

In 1996 he got in the North Carolina School of the Arts where his high-school studies continued for the next 4 years. There he was simultaneously organist of the First Baptist Church and Resident Organist at Reynolda House, Museum of American Art.

In 2000 came the big move to New York City in order to do his bachelors and masters from the Juilliard School. Other big names that accompanied him there included Gerre Hancock, John Weaver and Paul Jacobs.During this time Carpenter kept touring and wowing the audience across the country.

He made numerous arrangements for the organ of music by Bach, Chopin, ELO, Grainger, Medtner, Rachmaninoff, John Williams, Shostakovich and others. In 2004 he released an album titled Notes from the underground and then in 2007 he released CD/DVD Pictures At An Exhibition from Trinity Church Wall Street.

His 2008 Telarc debut, Revolutionary, references Chopin?s Revolutionary ?tude, the opening track on a CD DVD program including Bach, Demessieux, Dupr?, Liszt, Horowitz, Grainger, Ellington, and the world premiere recording of Cameron?s own Love Song No. 1 (2008).

Currently he is on a major tour supporting the release of the album in 5 countries and 15 US states, including solo appearances at prominent venues in UK Canada and US as well as and many other exciting concerts and broadcasts.

Sidestepping the age-old debate between tracker organs and electronic organs, Carpenter is devoting his considerable talent and personality to the cutting-edge cause of 'virtual pipe organs' - instruments using digital technology to produce the recorded sounds of a real pipe organ.

He's already made a CD at Trinity Church Wall Street in New York on a virtual organ made by Marshall & Ogletree (Trinity's original organ was destroyed by ash, smoke and debris from the Sept. 11 attacks). It uses computers, amplifiers and speakers to create a big, bold, broad range of sound. At the church?s Conservatory Stars Organ Festival Cameron?s recital had drawn standing ovations.

He showed that the digital organ can produce the grand sound of a pipe organ, from the crystalline, flutey treble sounds through a robustly reedy and brassy midrange right down to floor-shaking basses. Cameron is an artist-in-residence at the Middle Collegiate Church in New York's East Village.

His organ looks like a typical church-organ console, featuring four ranks of keyboards and foot pedals under the bench. But hidden behind the stately pipes of an earlier instrument are enormous speakers for the virtual pipe organ.

His 2008 CD Revolutionary also suggests that he is on a mission to transform the way people think about organists and their instruments.

Cameron has been noticed for his consistent onstage appearance in brilliant head-to-toe-white. Additionally, his innovative organ shoes have also attracted quite an attention.

Made entirely of flexible, extremely soft jazz-shoe leather, and equipped with a quasi-Cuban heel for the effective playing of pedal intervals, they are a vast improvement on traditional thick-soled, low-heeled shoes.

Cameron Carpenter's creativity knows no bounds, and his technique enables him to put imagination to work in ways the organ has not experienced in decades. Brimming with musicality, knowledge, and passion, his live performances are highly engaging.