Interview with Neil Cockburn

International prize-winning organist Neil Cockburn is getting ready to perform in a solo livestream concert this weekend. The pandemic has affected many parts of musicians’ lives and Neil’s is no exception. This will be his first solo concert in almost a year.

“I went from having a very busy performing schedule to almost nothing,” says Neil who, in addition to having a busy solo performing career and holding the position of CPO organist, is the Director of Music at the Cathedral Church of the Redeemer. “The Cathedral congregation enjoys hearing the core solo organ repertoire every week, and the majority of them sit quietly and listen right until the end of the postlude – even if it’s very long! Although we’ve maintained something of this in our weekly online services, it’s very different playing to a microphone and camera without perceiving that anyone is actually there with you.”

Entitled From Amsterdam to Lübeck, Neil has put together a programme highlighting the stylistic traits of the Ronald B. Bond Bach Organ at the University of Calgary. The “biography” of that organ starts in Amsterdam with the Dutch virtuoso Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck and traces a path through to North Germany, to Dietrich Buxtehude, and finally to J.S. Bach. The programme includes Sweelinck’s Chromatic Fantasy and Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in G, BWV 541.

When asked about playing in a livestream concert, Neil said “It’s a very important lifeline for the Arts Community at the moment. However, we’ve noticed with our online service broadcasts at the Cathedral that people’s viewing patterns are very different online. On the whole, it seems people are looking for shorter, more concise content. And at home, people are used to listening to professionally recorded and mastered CDs or music streaming services, so the sound quality of a livestream event can sometimes be less impressive. That said, sometimes pipe organs sound more impressive on the recording than they do in person, just because of where the instrument is situated in a building. If the pipes are high up, a listener may never be in a direct line with the sound, whereas a microphone can be. On Saturday, I will miss not having a direct connection with the audience and I will surely feel a different energy, but it will be a real treat to be able to go into a building to breathe musical life into a venue, and to share it with you all at home. I hope people will once again fill concert halls and other venues when we can attend concerts in person.”

From Amsterdam to Lübeck will take place at 7:30 PM on Saturday, February 27th through a livestream event presented by Calgary’s Early Music Voices and the University of Calgary School of Creative and Performing Arts. The livestream link will be available through www.earlymusicvoices.ca on the day of the concert. The concert is free, but donations to either the Early Music Voices Concert Series or the UCalgary Division of Music are encouraged.

For more information on Neil Cockburn, please visit www.neilcockburn.com.
 

Interview by ©Calgary Classical