Something's concocting in Cameron Carpenter's outrageous mind regarding the garb he'll wear for his local engagement. It's a hodgepodge of khakis, a fishing vest, a ratty corduroy jacket over a button-down shirt from the '80s, a large pocket protector and, of course, some proverbial loafers. There might even be scruff. The organist, after all, is appearing in the University of Michigan's Penny Stamps Lecture Series, a more traditional presentation than his usual grind.
So, he has to look the part.
"It's all drag, as they say," he jokes from his New York City digs, where he speaks to us about as deliberately as, say, the equally-as-esoteric Tori Amos. "One should really exploit the possibilities in both directions – and, for me, drag would be the equivalent to wearing that."
And the 28-year-old musical revolutionist, who came out as "queer" to The Advocate, is doing just that – swimming through his classical career like a newborn coming into the world. Since releasing the fittingly titled "Revolutionary" in 2008, he's been stuck on exploring every facet of his talent, much to gushing praise and harsh criticism. Some of which came from U-M, where a fit erupted within the music department, according to Carpenter, upon booking his Ann Arbor show. He's even incurred death threats – and the musician's casual mention of those make it sound as if he's unfazed by any of them.
"That's not uncommon in a field where people are easily threatened," he says.
"In terms of criticism that's levied at me from organists, I simply don't really engage in it. In fact, I prefer to be as ignorant as possible."
His team – all of whom are friends – guard him from most of the slams, which are remarkably redundant, according to Carpenter: He's all twinkle, no talent. His musical oeuvre is unoriginal. He's a fraud.
There's no question, however, that his glam-rock radiance – rhinestones, eye make-up and skin-tight trousers – is unorthodox for a classical organist, something that's been all abuzz. Most of the hoopla is generating within the U.S. In Moscow, for instance, where their mayor is aggressively anti-gay, this has been a non-issue. One show there even earned eight encores.
"Wearing something that might be classified as flamboyant is a much less shallow experience than might be assumed," he says. "But any perception that it is somehow a shallow or dispensable thing is, in a sense, strategically in my favor. It actually creates a greater contrast between the perception and the reality as experienced by the person in the audience."
Still, though, the negative stateside attention baffles him, as if there's some direct correlation between what he plays and what he looks like playing it.
"Am I not playing the great work? Am I not giving these performances that get such responses?" he argues. "That, to me, is really the more significant thing."
Others think so, too. The New York Times named him "the maverick organist," and his debut was the first of its kind to be nominated for a Grammy – both testaments to the talent that he's been honing since childhood, during which he performed Bach's complete "Well-Tempered Clavier" at age 11. Before graduating from The Juilliard School with two music degrees, he transcribed over 200 musical works for the organ.
An early start was certainly beneficial to sharpening his craft, but something else much less expected also helped: muscle. On average, Carpenter says he takes in 5,000-6,000 calories per day (for a quick fix, he'll down an entire gallon of whole milk). He also engages in yoga and a cardio routine. Good genes help, too.
"Both of my parents are of European heritage, so there's an in-built slimness that's difficult to get rid of because I have an extremely high metabolism, something a lot of organists are not so gifted with," he says. "It goes without saying that one has to be in incredibly good shape and work on it every single day. And this is a lot to ask of a person, even a person like me who's essentially devoted my life to it."
Much of Carpenter's early life was devoted to playing the popular Hammond B3, an electronic organ that was an enormous artistic outlet for him. He continues to advocate for the digital instrument, particularly the made-for-touring virtual version – a musical generator that, he says, can not only be artistic, but also summon fantastic results. But he still performs on the traditional pipe organ, as he will at his Michigan Theater stint.
There, the organ is suited for popular music of the early 19th century – "about as interesting to me as it is to anyone, which is to say, not very." That organ, then, will get a feverish workout when Carpenter rolls out a radical repertoire that includes "ancient" organ music and aggressively modern pieces.
"I'll try to make it as memorable as possible, so it's unlikely that I will probably wear rhinestones," he says, adding that clips from his upcoming DVD "Cameron Live!" will be shown. "That, of course, is to the max with rhinestones."
Cameron Carpenter
4:40 p.m. April 1
Michigan Theater
603 East Liberty St., Ann Arbor
http://www.michtheater.org
