Ep 29. - Organ Stops: Saving The King of Instruments

In the final episode of Season 2 (time flies!), we share clips of 5 artists who will be performing at the 2022 FutureStops Festival in September.    Don't forget to check out our Patreon @ www.patreon.com/futurestops

In our penultimate episode of Season 2, Blake sits down with Kit Downes, a phenomenal composer, pianist and organ player, as well as ECM records recording artist, and winner of a BBC Jazz award. His website: https://www.kitdownes.com/ Also, don't forget to check out our Patreon @ www.patreon.com/futurestops

In this episode, Blake sits down with Hampus Lindwall, the organist at Église-du-Saint Esprit in Paris. Known as an improviser, performer, and emerging techno artist, Lindwall is well versed on the Pipe Organ of new and old. Hear about his journey through music and religion!  His website is http://www.hampuslindwall.com/ Also, don't forget to check out our Patreon @ www.patreon.com/futurestops

In Episode 33, we speak with 3 different guests. First, we speak with Robert Curgenven about his project Beyond Enclosures. Then Tea Kulas comes on to discuss the Zadar Sea Organ and her organ festival. Finally we wrap up with Tauba Auerbach and Cameron Mesirow on their project: the Auerglass.   Beyond Enclosures: https://robertcurgenven.bandcamp.com/album/beyond-enclosures-3-album-set the Zadar Sea Organ: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n86pF-wQKrw   Don't forget to check out our patreon at www.patreon.com/futurestops 

In this episode, we discuss the music of the late Iannis Xenakis, a widely performed 20th century composer who’s 100th birthday was just celebrated in Paris with an exhibition and multiple concerts. Xenakis, whose experimental use of mathematics and architecture in composing music anticipated so much of the 21st century and whose musical scores can be baffling to even the most seasoned interpreter wrote a work for pipe organ that still to this day, stretches the capabilities of the performer and the organ itself. We first sit down with organist Suanne Kujala was chosen to perform this work at the recent celebrations in Paris. This notoriously difficult piece by Xenakis continues to challenge countless performers around the world since its publication in 1974. Our second guest, Eun-Joo Ju is an organist at Presbyterian Home, and Kenilworth Union Church in Illinois; her keen interest in this work, led to her choosing it as the subject for her thesis studies     You can check out our patreon at www.patreon.com/futurestops 

For episode three of our Canadian Organ Builders series, we visit the workshop of Orgues Letourneau. The Orgues Letourneau workshop is a pipe organ factory housed in a former water treatment plant in sleepy Ste.-Hyacunthe, Quebec. Fernand Letourneau started the company in 1979 by building a six-rank pipe organ in his basement, and from those humble beginnings the company has built an international reputation for their distinctive sound and artistry. We speak with Andrew Forrest, who is the Vice President and Artistic Director at Letourneau and plays a key role in the balancing act between old world tradition and new world technology. 

Hermann Nitsch is an Austrian avant-garde artist who works in experimental and multimedia modes. We speak to two experts in his craft, Ludwig Lusser & Leopoldo Siano, about Nitsch's music, process, and successes. 

Today we speak with documentary filmmaker James Dawson and organ restorer Martin Renshaw about their work on the documentary Organ Stops. You can check out the full doc here: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/organstops   Organ Stops Synopsis:  Martin has spent his life playing and building pipe organs; nowadays he dedicates all his time to rescuing them – "It’s a real crisis. There are around fifty churches closing every year and half the organs in them are worth saving." Beautifully made and historically important pipe organs are being scrapped in their hundreds. Once the centre of British culture pipe organs are now largely neglected and unloved. Often just one step ahead of the bulldozers, Martin and a small band of organ "anoraks", travel the country on rescue missions. In one ex-mining village in the north of England he discovers a fine very rare nineteenth century organ who’s salvage and "rebirth" becomes the redemptive story at the heart of the film. It's eventually adopted and given a new lease on life in a vibrant, largely Afro-Caribbean congregation in London.

For episode two of our Canadian Organ Builders series, we visit the workshop of Juget-Sinclair. They run the organbuilders workshop in an unassuming factory on historic Mill Street in Montreal, Canada. In this episode, they talk about how the factory is laid out, how 21st century technology is changing their job, and what they have planned for the future. 

Adrian Foster is back at Montreal’s Sacre Coeur de Jésus Church for season two. In this episode we discuss Foster's use of the pipe organ to create both electronic and acoustic music, as well as feature his piece Manifesting Light recorded in November 2021Sacre Coeur de Jésus