Experimental Composer Creates New Pieces With Massive Pipe Organ

E.M. Skinner’s Opus 634
Built with the Chapel itself in 1928, Rockefeller Chapel’s regal organ is one of four University organs of the American organ-builder E.M. Skinner (the others being at Yale, Princeton, and Michigan). These organs are considered among the finest examples of 20th century romantic organs built in America.
Built with the Chapel itself in 1928, Rockefeller Chapel’s regal organ is one of four University organs of the American organ-builder E.M. Skinner (the others being at Yale, Princeton, and Michigan). These organs are considered among the finest examples of 20th century romantic organs built in America.
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E.M. Skinner’s Opus 634
Built with the Chapel itself in 1928, Rockefeller Chapel’s regal organ is one of four University organs of the American organ-builder E.M. Skinner (the others being at Yale, Princeton, and Michigan). These organs are considered among the finest examples of 20th century romantic organs built in America.
Built with the Chapel itself in 1928, Rockefeller Chapel’s regal organ is one of four University organs of the American organ-builder E.M. Skinner (the others being at Yale, Princeton, and Michigan). These organs are considered among the finest examples of 20th century romantic organs built in America.
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Experimental Composer Creates New Pieces With Massive Pipe Organ

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Media artist and composer Olivia Block has taken on something big for her latest work. Block will generate notes from the massive Skinner pipe organ inside the University of Chicago’s legendary Rockefeller Chapel for a piece called “132 Ranks.” She’ll also be using a series of speakers playing pre-recorded sounds around the chapel to mesh with the music she’ll be making from the organ, all in an effort to explore the building itself as a ‘living body’, and how the music interacts with the space and its materials. Block joins us to talk about her work and how to better understand experimental music.