Cameron Carpenter (organ, USA)

Cameron Carpentner is the first organist ever to be nominated for a Grammy® award for a solo album. He is known for his intensely personal, often flamboyant, performances. Dubbed "the Maverick Organist" by The New York Times and described as a "profound musical intelligence" by The Wall Street Journal, his organ playing is widely regarded as unmatched: his readings of Chopin’s Ètudes, Op. 10 question the limits of organ technique, particularly when Chopin’s relentless chromatic runs are played only by the feet.

Cameron’s repertoire spans the organ and piano literature; his original compositions; film scores, especially from Japanese animé; and improvisations influenced by folk song, jazz, soul, disco and pop. From his use of color, to the concert clothes and organ shoes he designs - prompting press such as Women’s Wear Daily to nickname him the “organist-runway model” - his approach to the organ is unique.

TELARC® RECORDS signed Cameron in early 2008. His Telarc debut, Revolutionary, references Chopin’s Revolutionary Ètude, the opening track on a CD+DVD program including Bach, Demessieux, Dupré, Liszt, Horowitz, Grainger, Ellington, and the world premiere recording of Cameron’s own Love Song No. 1 (2008). In 2008 he was appointed Artist-In-Residence at Middle Collegiate Church in New York City’s East Village, an ethnically and musically diverse congregation to which his tastes and abilities are perfectly suited. Cameron holds Bachelor’s (2004) and Master’s (2006) degrees from The Juilliard School in New York City.

Born in 1981 in rural Northwestern Pennsylvania, Cameron was an acknowledged child prodigy who flourished under his parents’ home schooling and then, from age 11, as a student at the American Boychoir School in Princeton, New Jersey. As a boy soprano he was a soloist in such venues as Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center and with pop star Joe Jackson on Jackson’s 1994 album Night Music. He performed Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier at 11 and gave his European debut as an organist shortly after leaving the School at age 13. He later attended high school at the North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, NC, where he was simultaneously organist of the First Baptist Church and Resident Organist at Reynolda House, Museum of American Art.

Starting with his transcription for organ alone of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 – a one-year project finished on his 16th birthday – pushing the limits of what is physically performable on the organ has been an ongoing fascination. This continues today in his recent arrangements of virtuoso piano music (such as selected Fairy Tales by Medtner and Ètudes-Tableaux by Rachmaninoff [2004/05]; Liszt’s Mephisto Waltz No. 1 [2007]; Horowitz’ Variations on a theme from Bizet’s ‘Carmen’ and Godowsky’s Studies on Chopin’s Ètudes [2008]), as well as “experiments” (from Art Tatum’s improvisations, and solo readings of two-piano settings of Gershwin’s piano rolls, to Patsy Cline’s Back in Baby’s Arms and Laura Nyro’s Time and Love) in an ongoing celebration of what it can mean to play the organ.

Cameron’s mentors are Dr. Beth Etter (formerly of Allegheny College, Meadville, PA, and his boyhood teacher from the age of 4), and the New York City-based pianist (and proponent of the reknowned artist-teacher Adele Marcus) Miles Fusco, with whom he coaches regularly. His high school studies were with Dr. John E. Mitchener and Clifton Matthews; at The Juilliard School, he studied with Dr. Gerre Hancock, Dr. John Weaver, and Paul Jacobs.