Kurt Rampton of Birmingham is the first organist to play in March of this season of Wednesday@One orgen recitals. We spoke to him about his upcoming organ recital to find out what we can expect from his programme as well as finding out more about his career.How did you get into organ recitals?<span style="font-size: 1rem;">I first heard the sound of a pipe organ on a video game I was playing. I liked the sound that it made, and played around with the sounds on my small keyboard and a lot of different things happened after that. I ended up, eventually, playing on a church organ. My parents were very good to me and took me to organs in lots of churches, and even to an organ builder at one point. At that time I was just so fascinated by the instruments that it really started me off, and I got to know a local organist who gave me lessons. As my study progressed, the opportunities came to deliver recitals, my first being in my local church, where I had my first organ lesson.</span>How did you pick the pieces for your recital?<span style="font-size: 1rem;">I like to present the organ as an instrument that can realise a wide range of music. There can be a lot discrepancy about whether pieces should be played on the piano, on the organ and so on . There was a time when this didn’t really exist and music could be played on a whole variety of instruments with different ranges and ensembles, so I try and take this aspect of musicianship into the recitals and performances that I give.</span>Do you have a particular favourite piece to perform?<span style="font-size: 1rem;">I very much like Ockeghem’s Prenez sur moy vostre exemple that I’m playing, which is a three-part canon and I’m just playing one section of it . Even these pieces from the 15th century and earlier, there’s such an intellect to the piece, and such a focus on line in a way that we don’t see in a lot of organ music to the same extent after that. The way that it’s composed is fascinating to me as a performer ; it brings out this singing element of the organ.</span>You’ve performed on the organ in many places; has any particular location stood out?<span style="font-size: 1rem;">There have been a lot of instruments that I’ve enjoyed playing, but if I was to pick one it would be the Flentrop organ in Hamburg. It’s an absolutely amazing instrument and so beautifully crafted. Every pipe in that instrument is so special, and has a character of its own. You can bring so many different types of organ music to life on it.</span>Alongside your organ music you do lots of projects; are you working on anything at the moment?<span style="font-size: 1rem;">At the moment I’m concentrating on the way in which the organ can be applied to a changing society. There are lots of changes happening in the world at the moment, especially in this country. We’re probably going to be seeing some of the biggest changes in our lives in the next few years. Part of what I’m doing now is looking at how this will affect the cultural base and the way people are, and the things they aspire to and want in life and reviving the instrument in a way that’s applicable to these changes.</span>Do you think music has an important place in making sense of the world, and changes in it?<span style="font-size: 1rem;">Absolutely. I think if you look at the way that music has developed over the last thousand years, both in liturgical and non-liturgical settings, it can even be a leader of cultural change sometimes. It’s something that can have a massive impact that can change and create sub-cultures in society. Music is incredibly powerful, in that way, and I think the important thing now for any professional musician or someone thinking of going into the profession today from a creative stand-point or a more traditional approach, is to look at and get involved in these challenges , and see how they can make music come alive in today’s society.</span>Join us for our weekly Wednesday@One Organ Recitals at 1pm, with a lunch buffet available from 12:30pm. Kurt Rampton will be playing on Wednesday 4th March 2020. More information on this recital, all others and this season’s coffee concerts can be found in the programme available to buy from the recitals and concerts.
It is a rich theme, and can be taken both literally and metaphorically. We will be looking at what makes places holy, and spiritual journeys through the Bible, through the liturgy, and through our personal lives. The Lent Groups this year will be led by Andrew Tawn, Director of Clergy Development and one of this cathedral’s honorary canons.Refreshments from 6:30pmCourse from 7pmNight prayer at 8:15pmSession 1: Wednesday 11th March<span style="font-size: 1rem;">Holy Ways and Sacred Places</span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">We’ll be thinking about the two main aspects of pilgrimage: the journey and the destination, both literally and symbolically. What does the experience of pilgrimage tells us about the ‘journey of life’, and our ‘faith journey’? Celtic Christianity talks about ‘thin’ places, where heaven feels much nearer than usual. In what ways do you find Bradford cathedral a sacred place? What other places are special for you and why? What is it that makes us say of certain places, ‘Truly God is in this place’?</span>Session 2: Wednesday 18th March<span style="font-size: 1rem;">This is His Story: This is Our Story</span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">In this session we’ll be looking at the journey of the Bible from Creation to the end of time. The Bible is many things, but above all it is a story. When we read a story we go on a journey; we identify with the characters, we share their ups and downs, and if it is a great book (as the Bible undoubtedly is), then we find that we are changed by it. What are the great themes we encounter on this journey? What resonates with our own story? How does the Bible help us to make sense of our own journey through life? Where are you on your own faith journey?</span>Session 3; Wednesday 25th March<span style="font-size: 1rem;">‘A journey into the heart of the love of God’</span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">The preface to Common Worship says this: ‘Worship itself is a pilgrimage – a journey into the heart the heart of the love of God’. In this session we’ll be looking at the journey we go on during each act of worship. An ‘order of service’ is carefully structured so that each section follows on in response to the previous one, and leads us on into the next, like the movements of a symphony. Then each act of worship is part of the larger cycle of the church year which in itself re-enacts the journey of Jesus’ life and ministry. In which parts of the service, and the church year, do you feel closest to God? </span>
Each year the Church invites us to enter again the period called Lent as we individually and collectively prepare for Holy Week and Easter. Lent is that 5-week period, modelled on Jesus’ “40 days” in the wilderness. For Jesus that was a defining period in His life. It was the period when he did battle with himself, and the devil, and came out, at the end of that period with great clarity about his father’s call upon his life and his priorities of ministry. For Jesus it was a period of significant transformation and that is the invitation to us, again this year, that we might use this period to wrestle with our faith; to be challenged in our faith; to learn; to grow; to be transformed.Lent is the season in the year where it is expected that we be uncomfortable and disturbed. We have no flowers in the cathedral. We sing no alleluias. In our worship we sing the psalms and our music is often unaccompanied and “stripped back”.In practice this may mean that you will choose to read one of the Lent books available from our bookshop and come to the series of three Wednesday evening Lent courses. I know one person who has already said that they plan to attend Sunday Evensong each week in Lent as they don’t usually. I know someone else who is planning to attend Morning Prayer once a week who does not usually. These are all possibilities to additional disciplines to take on for the season.For others, Lent this year may be an opportunity to do less and be more. To spend more time in reflection and less time in busyness - to write letters? to write a prayer journal? to contemplate? to re-evaluate?Lent is an important annual gift to us which I invite to grasp with enthusiasm and commitment. Whether you choose to take on something new and extra, or choose to stop doing something or to do less, may Lent be for you a time of growth, renewal and realignment with God. God who is eternally compassionate and loving towards us and desires nothing more than we enjoy “life in all its fullness” and be agents of God’s justice and reconciliation in the world.
