Photo by Joshua South
In conversation with organist Renée Anne Louprette.
You started out as a pianist. When did you first try the organ, and what was the experience like transitioning from piano to organ?
When I was in my third year as an undergraduate piano major and university student in Connecticut, a friend of mine asked me to join her in signing up for a new course that was being offered: beginning organ studies for pianists. She had been appointed organist of a local church and was eager to gain the skills to do well in that position. At the same time, a departing graduate student offered me his former position playing for a local church as well. That church happened to have a distinguished historic pipe organ, so I also wished to know how to navigate my way around it. I decided to join the class, and the rest is history. We fortunately had a remarkable instructor, Larry Allen, who was the finest organist in the Hartford region and who expected us to sustain the discipline and focus to learn how to play the instrument well from the very start. The first several months were highly challenging while we learned to play the pedals. The hands and feet must move independently of one another but contribute to an overall complex degree of coordination and dexterity. Once I was able to play my first short piece by Johann Sebastian Bach, managing the bass line with my feet and understanding which stops should be chosen for creating an appropriately majestic sound, I was hooked for good.
In addition to your piano and organ degrees, you also have a degree in conducting. What inspired you to study conducting? Does your experience as a conductor inform your practice as a performer?
My years of experience working in churches exposed me to many valuable opportunities for conducting choirs – of all ages and proficiency levels – and various instrumental ensembles. When I worked in New York City at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola (Catholic), Trinity Wall Street (Episcopalian), and All Souls (Unitarian), these experiences expanded into frequent conducting of professional choirs and orchestras. I finally decided to take these skills a step further by pursuing a Master of Music degree in conducting. I chose to study within the rigorous conducting program at Bard College Conservatory, where I’m now happily a full-time member of the faculty and director of the Baroque Ensemble. Certainly, my work as a conductor informs my playing of the organ. I often tell my organ students: if you can’t get away with steering an orchestra to play in that way, don’t try to get away with it on the organ either! The organ is, in many ways, like an orchestra, offering a multitude of tonal possibilities that are often intended to replicate orchestral instruments such as strings, flutes, woodwinds and brass. But unlike an orchestra, the modern-day organ has a limitless supply of wind, once the blower motor has been turned on. It is also a complex machine that can do things that human performers in an orchestra cannot. Conducting an orchestra or a choir gives one an organic sense of breath and pacing that can translate in a meaningful way on the pipe organ as well, making the organ sound less like a complex machine and more like a living, breathing instrument.
You wrote that you selected to perform Rachel Laurin’s Intermezzo, Moto perpetuo, and Fugue triangulaire from Volume 1 of Douze courtes pièces in your UChicago Presents program since they present the opportunity to feature “various flute and gentle foundation stops” of the Reneker organ. Can you describe your process of designing a program to fit the particular quirks of the organ you’ll be performing on?
When planning a recital on a pipe organ I’ve not previously heard or seen, I study what we call the specification of the organ, or the list of technical details about the instrument. This includes a description of the number of keyboards, a complete listing of the stops and their layout or location within the organ, the type of key or stop action (mechanical or electric), and information about any other controls or “gadgets” available to the organist to help present complex musical works without additional human assistance. Although we can study the specs of a pipe organ on paper, we must take our chances when planning a program, hoping the instrument will meet our expectations and be a good match for the pieces we’ve chosen. The acoustics of the room in which an organ is placed also have a significant impact on the sound of the instrument. Although I won’t have seen the Reneker organ at the University of Chicago before my arrival, my hope is that the Rachel Laurin pieces – three delightful miniatures from her Douze Courtes Pièces, Vol. 1 – will beautifully showcase the more intimate colors of the instrument, and that the other works on the program will appropriately highlight the full tonal palette and majesty of the organ.
When you’re not working or performing, what do you like to do in your free time?
I absolutely love to cook, and I enjoy it even more when preparing a meal that I’ll be sharing with friends or family. I’ve recently prepared some traditional Eastern European recipes stemming from my time spent researching and performing in Romania over the past few years. I enjoy bringing those dishes to life here in the U.S. and seeking out all the necessary ingredients to make them just right. I also enjoy taking walks and hiking in the scenic Hudson Valley and Catskill Mountain region of upstate New York, or taking a drive in my little red Miata with the top down on the local country roads while listening to some favorite music.
What’s next for you?
I’m looking forward to some upcoming organ recitals – in Holland, Michigan (which I hear is a very charming town!) this November, and in Philadelphia and New York City in early 2025. The program in Philadelphia will include the premiere of five new works that have been specially commissioned for the annual January JumpStart festival to be hosted by Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church. I’m especially excited about an upcoming program I’m directing with the Baroque Ensemble at Bard College this November 24th: a survey of Spanish music from the 12th through 18th centuries. The Bard students have been working hard preparing this fantastic and colorful program, and I’m greatly looking forward to seeing this complex and rewarding project finally come to fruition.