When Calvin Bowman really gets going on the organ, both hands fly across the keyboard in different directions and his legs pump away as each foot plays a different part on the pedal-board. During pedal solos, he has to hang on to the seat so he doesn’t fall off. We don’t think of organ players as athletes, but maybe we should: there’s a level of dexterity, coordination, muscular control and core strength involved in playing the instrument that rivals many sports.
This Sunday, the Australian composer and organist adds endurance to the list: across 16 hours, starting at 6am, he’ll play Johann Sebastian Bach’s entire catalogue of organ music, back-to-back, on the Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC)’s behemoth instrument, in a free concert as part of Brisbane festival. It’s the third time he’s performed this feat, after performances at Melbourne festival in 2009 and Mona Foma in Launceston in 2022.
