The Music of Calvin Hampton (1938-1984)

Featuring

Jeremy Filsell
Juan Diego Villalobos
Justin Bischof
Mike Ramsey
The Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys
Calvin Hampton

Samuel Augustus Ward

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Composer's Artistic Vision

Calvin Hampton hosted popular midnight organ concerts from 1972 to 1982, encouraging audiences to lie on the floor and presenting an eclectic mix from Bach to his own audacious music, sometimes with experimental lighting.

Instruments

Calvin Hampton's controversial ideas on organ tonal design led to a transformation of the organ at Calvary, including pipes he imported from Paris made by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, a renowned French organ builder.

Compositional Technique

Calvin Hampton's Concerto for Organ uses a 'Stravinskian block-like' approach to color and texture, with stark juxtapositions of contrasted material, making it sound like 'new' music.

Critical Reception

Calvin Hampton was praised as a 'genius' and 'one of the rare organists who have the nerve to perform orchestral music on the organ' for his transcriptions, such as Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Calvin Hampton's choral music is characterized by its idiosyncratic nature, pervaded by a sense of the unexpected, and reflects a dynamic creativity within church music.

Composer Biography

Calvin Hampton, the composer, was a significant figure in the New York musical world of the 1960s and 70s, known for his unique social and musical 'personal laboratory'.