FutureStops

Ep. 26 - Raven Chacon: Voiceless Mass

Raven Chacon, an artist with experience in chamber music & caustic noise performance, releases his first composed work for organ & ensemble "Voiceless Mass". Listen to this Indigenous American's first experience performing with the pipe organ as well as his history as a musician and his work with the organization, The Native Americans Apprenticeship Program.

Ep. 25 — Organ+ with Thomas Mellan, FUJI​​TA& John Kameel Farah

Welcome to the third installment of Organ+, a segment of the podcast where we profile artists and performers expanding existing contexts for the organ and creating new ones. Our guests in this episode are:

Thomas Mellan, a composer and the newly minted organist at St Cecilia's Church in Boston, MA. His latest project breaks the mold of what we expect from a congregational player and connects back to his love of the electric guitar.

FUJI​|​|​|​|​|​|​|​|​|​|​TA, a performer who accompanies his voice with a keyboardless pipe organ which he built and designed himself.

John Kameel Farah, an artist who blends different keyboard instruments, genres, eras and cultures within live musical experiences, offering challenges and insights into the spaces where they take place.

Ep. 24 — Sandra Boss: Bringing the Organ to the People

Sandra Boss is a composer and sound artist based in Denmark. She is also the creator of the Automatic Organ, an instrument of her own design with a modern midi keyboard controlling old, hand-picked organ pipes that would have otherwise been thrown out. Join us here for an interview with Sandra about the inspiration behind creating the Automatic Organ, and the creative ideas that drive her compositions and performances.

Ep. 23 — Ellen Arkbro: Choreographing Space and Harmony

Ellen Arkbro is a Swedish composer whose search for authenticity in her musical practice led her to the pipe organ. Join us here for an interview with Arkbro about her creative approach to the organ and her abundant musical creativity. Listen to this episode's feature track, 'CHORDS for organ', here: https://ellenarkbro.bandcamp.com/track/chords-for-organ.

Ep. 22 — Razen: Humanistic and Alien Sounds

Razen is a Belgian improvisational group that creates music informed by early music, the unique acoustics of sacred spaces and a deep sense of ritual and connection. The group's core members, Brecht Ameel and Kim Delcour, have been involved in this project for more than ten years and they join us here for an interview about their creative process, the importance of acoustics and how they incorporate the pipe organ's complex historical context into their sound. Listen to the full album Ayîk Adhîsta, Adhîsta Ayîk here!

Ep. 21 — Amina Claudine Myers: In Music

Amina Claudine Myers is an, Organist, Pianst, Vocalist, Composer, Master Improvisationalist, Actress and Educator. She joins us here for an interview about her incredible life as a musician, and her yet-to-be-released Improvisational Suite, featuring the pipe organ. Amina's music gives us a glimpse into what’s possible when a pipe organ is wielded by someone with a wide range of influences, and an unbridled, wild creativity.

Ep. 20 — Roger Sayer: The Interstellar Organist

Roger Sayer never anticipated that his organ playing would be heard by millions as part of the soundtrack to a blockbuster sci-fi film, but that's exactly what happened after composer Hans Zimmer decided to record the epic score to 2014's Interstellar on the organ at London's Temple Church.

Sayer is the organist and Director of Music at Temple Church, and he joins us here for an interview about how he became an organist, what it was like to record for a blockbuster film score and why the organ is the perfect instrument for a film about time, love and outer space.

Ep. 19 — Casavant Frères: Canadian Organ Builders Series Pt. 1

Welcome to the second season of FutureStops! We’re very excited to be back bringing you more of the sounds and stories of the 21st century organ experience. This season begins with the first in a series of episodes exploring the rich history of organ building in Canada. Our first stop is at the legendary house of Casavant in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, where we spoke to Dany Wiseman, Sébastien Kardos and Simon Couture about their experiences in the complex and fascinating world of organ building.

Ep. 18 — Charlemagne Palestine: Gesamtkunstwerk for Organ

Born in Brooklyn in 1947, Charlemagne Palestine is a multidisciplinary artist who has been exploring the sonic potential of the pipe organ since the 1970s. Join us as host Blake Hargreaves speaks with Charlemagne about his fascinating life and career. Special thanks to Nathan Cook at Close-Far Records for providing music from a very rare early recording of Charlemagne for this episode!

Ep. 17 — Orgelpark

Orgelpark is an organ-centric performance space and research lab in Amsterdam that is home to 6 (!) permanently installed pipe organs. Join us for our conversation with with Orgelpark's Artistic Assistant Trevor Grahl and composer Eric de Clercq to learn more about the past, present and future of this performance space and what makes it so unique.