Carpenter plays Bach

EVENT DESCRIPTION

There are organists and then there is Cameron Carpenter. This is the man who dresses like a punk rocker, performs classical masters, and thrills audiences with the kaleidoscopic colours of his playing. For Carpenter, the organ is capable of “violence, vulgarity, obscenity, high drama, subtlety, and understatement”, and his performances capitalise its potentials to the full. He’s been busy, too, since his last appearance at the Hong Kong Arts Festival. “All You Need is Bach,” he declared during the coronavirus pandemic—and putting his organ in the back of a van, he hit the road, playing 32 concerts in four days to the isolated and the elderly of Berlin.

Now, he returns once again to the mighty Rieger organ of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre with a programme full of Johann Sebastian Bach’s most powerful and beloved organ music. At the heart of his concert is Carpenter’s own transcription of the Goldberg Variations, a masterwork that’s grand yet intricately woven. And Carpenter loves a challenge. In this rare opportunity to hear the Variations performed on the organ, he’ll bring out all the fantasy, drama and beauty of a truly timeless classic.

Part of Hong Kong Arts Festival 2023.