James McVinnie with Bedroom Community, Royal Festival Hall

You wouldn’t think it was possible, in the twenty-first century, to be a star organist, but James McVinnie is just that. This September, he will visit the Southbank Centre to present new music for his instrument. As well as a special commission from Bryce Dessner, best known as part of The National, he will play works by a diverse and illustrious line-up of composers, including Philip Glass, Valgeir Sigurðsson, Nico Muhly and Ben Frost. This is a chance to sit at the frontier of organ music, as well as to explore the diverse sounds of Icelandic label Bedroom Community.
Many classically-trained musicians begin their career in new music, collaborating with living composers, before eventually embracing the standard repertoire. McVinnie has turned dramatically the other way. Born in Kent, his education conservative. He was an organ scholar at Clare College Cambridge, and then worked at such establishment bastions as St Paul’s Cathedral and Westminster Abbey. From 2003, he released a stream of records in the classical mould, playing Handel, Vaughan Williams and the like.
Then, in 2012, he appeared on the album Baroque (2012) by violinist Nadia Sirota, which despite its name contained new works by composers. It was released on Bedroom Community, and the next year they put out his own Cycles, comprised of music by label mate Muhly. Since then, he has devoted more and more of his time to contemporary work, collaborating with the likes of Oneohtrix Point Never, Shara Worden and Richard Reed Parry of Arcade Fire. There can be few people doing as much to revitalize such an antiquated instrument.
Founded in 2006 by Sigurdosson, Muhly and Frost, Bedroom Community is a label that straddles the shadowy zone between indie and classical music. Encompassing everything from the Americana-scented folk of Sam Amidon to Paul Corley’s ambient soundscapes, they have become a guarantee of boundary-pushing quality.