Featured Facts About “Game Changing” Organist Cameron Carpenter

A Musical Child. Cameron Carpenter was born in 1981 in Titusville, Pennsylvania. In 1993, he joined the American Boychoir School and performed with the school in the United States and Europe as a chorister, accompanist and keyboard soloist, and occasionally, a boy soprano soloist.

School Days. Carpenter attended The Juilliard School where he received his Bachelor's Degree (2004) and his Master of Music in Organ Performance Degree (2006). One of his instructors was Paul Jacobs who made his Northrop debut last season.

Breaking Ground. Cameron Carpenter’s album Revolutionary granted him a GRAMMYTM nomination for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance—making him the first organist to be nominated for a solo album.

Deutschland. In 2010, Carpenter moved from New York City to Berlin, Germany. The history of Berlin attracted him and he described the city as “a very reinventive place, by necessity” (The New York Times). Over the last few decades, Berlin has gained an influx of artists, and the city has become a popular location for classical music. Over the last few decades, Berlin has gained an influx of artists. The city has become a popular location for classical music, attracting musicians like Carpenter, who resided as an artist in residency for the Konzerthaus concert hall during his 2017-2018 season.

Speaking Out. Carpenter has been a featured speaker at many conferences including IdeaCity, The Entertainment Gathering, and TED. At TED2012, he wondered why the pipe organ, a machine of such “violence, vulgarity, obscenity, high drama, subtlety, and understatement” would have a sinecure in, of all places, church.

Creating a New Way. The International Touring Organ (ITO) created by Cameron Carpenter is a full scale portable organ that can break apart into six pieces for easy transport. The Los Angeles Times called Carpenter, “one of the rare musicians who changes the game of his instrument.”  In 2014, the ITO Debut and Festival took place at the Lincoln Center—since then, he has toured with it in the United States, Russia, China, Australia, and throughout Europe.

Pandemic Playing. During the coronavirus pandemic, Carpenter put his organ on the back of a truck in Berlin to play 32 concerts in four days for isolated audiences including senior citizens, sharing the motto, "All you need is Bach"  through his transcription of J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations.