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Organ duo
Iris and Carsten
Lenz
The extraordinary organ concert
with 4 hands and 4 feet
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Videos
The organ duo Iris and Carsten Lenz
is actually called one of the
leading european organ duos. The two virtuosos have played numerous concerts all over Germany, in a lot of European countries, in Russia and in major cities in USA (New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, San
Antonio, Durham) in most cases with distinctive programs and rare compositions for organ.
A CD with music for organ duet (recorded at 10 organs dating back to the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries) was published in the summer of 2002. In 2007 they released their 4th CD with music for organ duet. With this program they also produced their
first 4hand DVD video.
The Duo is specialized in organ music for two players at one organ. Their usually well attended concerts show the variety of organ music with the
possibility for the audience to watch the organists (video-projection of the organ console).
If you would like to get the organ duo for a concert at your church, just get in contact with Iris and Carsten Lenz.
You may also receive an info-brochure and a Demo-CD (including audio tracks and a video sequence).
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Iris Lenz
Born in 1969, studied church music
(organ and choir directing) in Frankfurt/Main (organ with Dagmar Lübking and Tomasz Adam Nowak) and attended master classes for organ, notably under the direction of Andrea Marcon, Miguel Bennassar, Eckhard Kuper, Christiane Michel-Osterthun and Renate Zimmermann.
After serveral positions as organist in Frankfurt, she was as a church musician (organist and choir director) for the Oranier-Gedächtnis-
Kirche in Wiesbaden-Biebrich from October 1996 to March 2002.
Several CD´s with music for adults and childrens' choirs as well as organ music were recorded during this period.
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An intensive study of the Hesse-Nassau organ music of the 19th century was followed by the publishing of the book entitled “The change of the organ
disposition with Daniel and Gustav Rassmann against the background of the Hesse-Nassau organ literature”. She is presently a choir director and organist in the Rhine-Main area.
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Carsten Lenz
Born in 1970, received his first
tuition on the organ at the age of 12. He studied church music in Frankfurt/Main (organ with Dagmar Lübking) and he received his concert artist diploma in organ playing at the Wiesbaden
Music Academy (studied organ with Elisabeth Maranca). He also attended master classes for organ, notably under the direction of Jon Laukvik, Andrea Marcon, Miguel Bennassar, Eckhart Kuper, Christiane
Michel-Osterthun and Renate Zimmermann.
After holding positions as organist at serveral churches in Wiesbaden, he became deanery church musician (director of music and organist, 27 churches)
in Ingelheim am Rhein. At this location he founded the Georg-Philipp-Telemann Choir and the childrens' choir of the Ingelheim deanery which has advanced in the meantime to becoming one of the largest choirs in the region.
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He has madeover 20 LP and CD recordings in recent years and has also published musical scores
. In addition, he also performed as an organist in numerous radio and TV productions, and has written several compositions
of his own for organ (including compositions for four hands); some of his choral arrangements were published in a collection of choral preludes for the new hymnal (Strube Verlag).
In addition to a large number of appearances as a organ soloist, he has also performed major concerts for organ with orchestra (Händel, Haydn, Poulenc, Rheinberger g-minor, Gárdonyi).
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… The organists Iris and Carsten Lenz were most successful in creating enthusiasm among their listeners.
The various perceptions of life are reflected in the music:
the chirping and twittering of birds, calmness and gentleness, romantic aura, the reproductions of a wedding and even a thunderstorm…. carefully selected music pieces from the past 200 years as well as a brilliant performance by Carsten Lenz of his own variations, combined with the musical accomplishment of both organists,
released widespread sentiments among the audience who demonstrated their appreciation by refraining from all restrictions when rendering their applause !… (Mitteldeutsche Zeitung, 10.9.2002 to the
dedication concert of the famous Reubke-Röver-Organ at Hausneindorf)
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… Four hands and four feet performing on the organ with inspiring results. The opening performance of the organ and choir mile was
indeed a most unique organ concert last Friday in the Dreikönigs-Kirche. The program was lilting and cheerful
and included as a highlight the “Rural Wedding Feast “ by Franz Berwald. The two organists thanked the enthusiastic audience for their vibrant applause with a very special encore…
(Sachsenhäuser
Wochenblatt,
Frankfurt/Main, 29.8.2002)
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Zürcher Oberländer, (Switzerland), 11.7.2003
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English translation:
Music with four hands and four feet
A joyful
organ concert with Iris and Carsten Lenz in Gossau
On Wednesday evening in the reformed church in Gossau, a fascinating and a unique organ
concert took place with Iris and Carsten Lenz. The two young Germans are a dream couple not only in life but also on the instrument. They perform together, with four hands and four feet, throughout all the
centuries of music history.
It was a real pleasure to watch Mr. and Mrs. Lenz playing on the organ with four hands and four feet. On Wednesday evening, they performed before a large audience
in the reformed church in Gossau.
Their hands sometimes played on the same manuals, sometimes on different ones; then there was performance in parallel, followed by an intermeshing of all four hands. During a contemporary ragtime “Max Cat Rag” by Robin Dinda
they performed a passage written for four feet only, a composition demanding full physical application from both musicians.
Organ performance on the large screen
The couple had a video camera installed which transmitted the musical performance from up above in the
gallery to a large screen in front of the pulpit. In that way, the large audience in the church could follow every single detail as the musicians´ fingers performed on the keys.
The 33-year old Carsten Lenz
and his 34-year old wife Iris demonstrated their indepth scope of style which covered an extensive range of music of summer-joyful works including the baroque and romantic periods as well as contemporary
compositions. Of course, well-known works such as Handel´s “Messias”-theme “Hallelujah” or the choral “Nun danket alle Gott” (Now Thank We All Our God), as well as the unknown
original composition for organ for four hands such as Franz Berwald´s “Rural Wedding Feast” were not omitted in the program.
Beethoven variations as a highlight of the concert
Carsten Lenz' performance of one of
his own compositions was definitely one of the highlights of this unique evening of music.
This composition was variations on the famous theme “Song Of Joy” from Beethoven´s Ninth Symphony. With these arrangements, Lenz placed no restrictions on his virtuosity and fantasy. Some variations were in the Bach and Mozart style while others sounded like a waltz or even imitated a full bagpipe orchestra.
Humorous and competent statements alike
It was also very pleasant to listen
to Carsten Lenz as he accompanied the individual pieces of music with competent and humorous statements and comments. No wonder that the audience thanked Mr. and Mrs. Lenz for their highly allround professional
performance with a prolonged applause
while adamantly insisting on an encore a moody version of “The Granada Connection” by the female English composer Joyce Alldred where Iris Lenz also used two cymbals for the performance. The organist explained later: “this piece of music was actually written for cinema organs and percussion instruments are included in such”.
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2006 historic Bosch organ in Santanyi (Mallorca)
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2009 Glatter-Götz organ Philharmonic Society Perm (Russia)
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