In his introduction to the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra concert, President Michael Titterton told us tonight would be “a life-changing experience!” You bet it was! I counted five standing ovations and five curtain calls!

Tonight was American Guild of Organists (AGO) Night at the Symphony, with guest artist Cameron Carpenter. Listed in the program were Francis Poulenc’s “Concerto for Organ, Timpani and Strings in G Minor” and Camille Saint-Saëns’ “Symphony No. 3 in C minor, Op. 78 Organ,” but the concert turned out to be much, much more.

I thought something was suspicious when at 4:00 pm, the start time of the concert, the stage was completely empty! The orchestra members were oddly backstage when Michael Titterton made his introductory remarks (usually they are sitting in their usual places). At the beginning of the orchestra season when it is customary to sing the national anthem and Hawaii state anthem, Cameron Carpenter came on stage to play “The Star Spangled Banner” and “Hawai’i Pono’i,” with all sorts of wild seventh chords!

Then, before performing the Poulenc Concerto, Cameron played Bach’s great “Fugue in G minor,” which he says the Poulenc Concerto was based on. He took it lickety-split without a single note out of place, but with a huge number of registration changes. I was breathless just listening to it, but of course, knowing every note of the piece made it all the more exciting.

Intermission was delayed when Carpenter played two encores: the first was his own transcription of Bach’s “French Suite No. 5 in G major,” with some wicked pedal parts and then an improvisation on “Somewhere over the Rainbow,” starting with arpeggiated harmonies on the manuals with the melody in the pedal, building to full organ.

The second half was the Saint-Saëns, and I appreciated hearing some very quiet registrations. So often the organ part is only part of the background, so to have the console out front and center was a big change. Of course, I couldn’t help but think of the fabulous performance I heard of this work last summer in Worcester Cathedral with Wayne Marshall (“Not another Saint-Saëns!“) because it was done in a real cathedral with cathedral acoustics and a massive pipe organ.

Cameron really had to work for his money tonight: he played the National Anthem, a hymn (“Hawaii Pono’i”), a concerto (the Poulenc), a symphony (the Saint-Saëns), two pieces of Bach, plus an improvisation (“Somewhere over the Rainbow”). The audience heard just about everything the organ can do! I do think he won a lot of fans over to the organ tonight, many of whom never heard organ music before.

As Cameron Carpenter said in the Concert Conversation, though, he did not try to make the digital organ sound like a pipe organ—it was an instrument unto itself. Some of the things he said were absolutely hilarious: when Iggy Jang asked how it was to play with other musicians, Cameron said “I became an organist to NOT have to work with other musicians!” Marcelo Lehninger, the conductor, had musicians as parents; one was a pianist and the other a violinist. He said he studied music, then went into therapy! And Cameron Carpenter said he did the same!

Another fascinating aspect of the Conversation was when there was some discussion about how the organ is the opposite of the orchestra. Wind and brass players, for example, use their breath to play; and string players use different pressures on the bow to effect dynamic changes — all of which is to say that players become one with their instruments. The organist, on the other hand, does use both hands and feet to play, but every organ is different; you can’t take it home with you and it’s “just a yes or no” to make the sound; pull on the stops or not.

Oh! Guess what! Iggy Jang gave me a shout-out during the Conversation when he said that “Kathy Crosier brought her friends from the American Guild of Organists!” He also mentioned that I had played the Saint-Saëns with the symphony some years ago.

The greatest aspect of the night, though, was when about 30 of us went backstage to meet Cameron. He was so gracious in letting us take so many pictures of him! Karl Bachman and Connie Uejio had a nice conversation with Cameron’s mom, who came along—he said that it was his first trip to Hawaii.

Hopefully it won’t be his last!