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A new chapter is opening in the story of the pipe organ: digital technology affords the instrument to reposition itself as a most dynamic and musical one. The development is inclusive: hyperorgans, as that is how pipe organs equipped with the new technology are named, do not replace former organ types, whether used in liturgies or for classical music: hyperorgans instead celebrate their provenance. The Department of Organ Studies at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, invites graduate and post-graduate organ musickers and sound artists to explore the new horizons this development opens, by joining the fifth edition of its artistic research week ORGAN IN SITU. It takes place in week 24: Monday June 8th till Saturday June 13th. ORGAN IN SITU is free of charge, thanks to the generous support of the Orgelpark, the concert and research venue in Amsterdam dedicated to organ art: it is ORGAN IN SITU's main location.
ORGAN IN SITU differs from regular master classes in that it encourages students to attend more than just one edition, and thus create a strong international network; also, instead of a conventional single expert leading the week, the collective SOUND REBELLION acts as the educational force. Sound Rebellion's musickers are Adrian Foster, Elisabeth Hubmann, Michele del Prete, and Giulio Tosti. Jakob Lkk, who guided the first four editions, and who is affliated artistic researcher at VU's Department of Organ Studies, will sit in regularly, as will Hans Fidom, who leads the Department.
S O U N D R E B E L L I O NThe collective Sound Rebellion was established during the first edition of ORGAN IN SITU, in 2022. The video shows a snippet of the grand sound event Sound Rebellion created in Amsterdam's Oude Kerk for the 2024 edition of ORGAN IN SITU, as well as the four members: Adrian Foster, Elisabeth Hubmann, Michele del Prete, and Giulio Tosti. Video © Orgelpark.
A R T I S T I C R E S E A R C H
To ORGAN IN SITU, doing artistic research is finding answers to core questions by being active artistically. ORGAN IN SITU takes the perspective of ‘situationality’ as its reference: music sounds, and does so only during a specific time in a specific place. Organs, not least hyperorgans, leave no other choice. Not only does each one have its very own sonic identity, they also activate very different acoustic spaces sonically. Thirdly, they challenge to rethink the artistic affordances of these spaces time and again. The crucial question to new organ musickers hence is: how to understand and apply organ sounds in new contexts and situations? How to explore the qualities of a space to be musicked in live? As sharing artistic insights depends on sharing words, ORGAN IN SITU intertwines artistic research with academic research: as soon as we speak, we are thinking and reasoning, which means touching and entering the realm of the academic. Hans Fidom will take the lead here, but of course Sound Rebellion and Jakob Lkk will chime in as well.
O R G A N . . .
The Orgelpark owns many instruments (eight pipe organs, two grand pianos, an art harmonium, state of the art sound systems). But it undoubtedly is the Utopa Baroque Organ that represents ORGAN IN SITU's main instrument. It is equipped with the technology mentioned above. The Orgelpark hyperorgan can be played with a digital console, but also via any interface that operates MIDI or OSC.
. . . I N S I T U
Each pipe organ differs sonically completely from the next one. The same is true for music: no music ever sounds the same twice. So the best way to get to know sound as good as possible and create ideas about what music to make with it, is making sure you are onsite, in the space where the sounds are, instead of remaining online – where music obviously can only be made with sounds tunnelled through laptops and all the other devices needed make music sound. Since this is a crucial insight, and also since the Vrije Universiteit cherishes its traditions, we decided to amplify this concept of being and living 'onsite' by using the Latin expression for it: in situ.
N E T W O R K
Rethinking making music inspired by the new ways pipe organs afford sonics to musick with is not a unique feature of ORGAN IN SITU; instead, the Amsterdam artistic research week is embedded in an international network of festivals and other comparable initiatives. For example:
AGGREGATE in Berlin, organized by gamut inc It is also fascinating to see the number of hyperorgan locations steadily growing. To just mention a few:
AMSTERDAM Muziekgebouw A third major factor empowering the hyperorgan network is the steady increase of transportable dynamic organs:
LIMINARE
L O O K I N G B A C K – 2 0 2 5ORGAN IN SITU 2025: Exploring the sound of the space at the Orgelpark, by together playing the organs, walking, listening. Video © Orgelpark.
L O O K I N G B A C K – 2 0 2 4ORGAN IN SITU 2024: during the afterparty following the sound event in the Thomaskerk in Amsterdam, Adrian Foster explains student Maria Gajraj how to manipulate a pipe's sound by changing the wind flow from its mouth with a piece of cardboard, and by recording and processing it (Maria holding a tiny mic). Video © Orgelpark.
L O O K I N G B A C K – 2 0 2 3ORGAN IN SITU 2023: student Caro de Valk plays the Utopa Baroque Organ at the Orgelpark using the weaving she created. Video © Orgelpark.
L O O K I N G B A C K – 2 0 2 2ORGAN IN SITU 2022: Elisabeth Hubmann plays the Utopa Baroque Organ, while Michele del Prete interweaves electronic sounds. The recording shows a snippet of the final sound event; Sound Rebellion had been born just a few days earlier. Video © Orgelpark.
O R G A N I N S I T U 2 0 2 6 : P A R T I C I P A T I O N
T H A N K S
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