Katta

In Katta's music, ancient and modern worlds come together, the sacred meets the profane, and technological chasms are crossed: you might hear her play on some of the world's most treasured pipe organs in churches and cathedrals, or on her state-of-the-art, custom-built electric touring organ - and whether the ambience is provided by the dreamy acoustics of vaulted sacred spaces, or electronic soundscapes weaving in and out of her organ lines, the spirit of her music is unmistakeable: ethereal, experimental, arresting.

Katta first came to international prominence as a classical organist and harpsichordist, performing with orchestras such as Anima Eterna (with Jos van Immerseel), Zurich Chamber Orchestra (with Sir Roger Norrington), the Royal Flemish Philharmonic, and the Prague Symphony Orchestra - but it was when she started writing and performing her own music that her artistic identity truly asserted itself. 2016's 'Veni Sancte Spiritus' album was the first to showcase her compositions – other-worldly, spiritual works featuring distinctive vocals and tinkling, percussive bells: by turns lyrical and jarring, they seemed to come from a distant and mysterious past, and yet to belong entirely to the present.

Katta has performed these works solo and in arrangements for organ and orchestra. In addition, she has collaborated with artists like Daniel Hope and Cameron Carpenter, and performed on the same bill as Bjork at Olavsfest in Norway in 2022. This year, Katta's new album 'Vox Organi' is released on Berlin label Emika Records.

Unconfined by genre, yet always instantly recognisable as her own, Katta's music is living proof that the organ remains a vital instrument in the 21st century.

Katta: Vox Organi

My new album Vox Organi (The Voice of the Organ) combines original instrumental pieces with vocal compositions based on old spiritual texts and prayers. I've called the instrumental pieces Meditations. They were written in my 'home' church, St. Salvator's in Prague, where I experimented with organ sounds and the possibilities presented by the mechanical tract of the instrument, which enabled me to create various sonic effects which in places are more reminiscent of electronica than an 'analogue' Baroque instrument. One of my ambitions is to show that the organ, as I like to say, is the world's oldest synthesiser.

The Meditations were originally written for Prague's multimedia Signal Festival in 2018. Reviewers of that festival performance remarked on the physical force of the pieces, how they fill the space and reverberate in the body of the listener, as well as noting their similarities to ambient music, noise, sound art installations, and post-Cage avant-garde composition.

These Meditations are complemented on the album by sung pieces based on spiritual motifs, and this combination of instrumental and vocal pieces creates Vox Organi, my first album of all-original compositions. Recorded during and after the pandemic, the album is released this spring on Emika Records, a label run by the artist Emika, a long-established name in the world of electronic and experimental music.

The album was recorded at St. Salvator's Church in Prague. All the sounds you hear come exclusively from the organ and have not been electronically manipulated in any way.

KATTA: VOX ORGANI

The Voice of the Organ

My concerts have taken me to some wonderful places which have cast a spell on me with their energy and beauty. I always felt a need to return to those places, and every time I discovered a new, equally magical venue, I started thinking about bringing them all together in one special tour: to connect the voice of the organ – vox organi – with these magnificent spaces and create unforgettable experiences.

"ORGAN LAB"

ARTISTIC RESIDENCY IN BARCELONA

8.9. - 23.9. 2024 in Barcelona and Collbató, experiments with the instruments of the organ builder Albert Blancafort.

This project is supported by European Union.

Past projects:

SONIC MEDITATION

During the Midsummer Night on 23 June, a meditative evening will take place in the church U Salvátora in Prague. It will be filled with ambient music, Tibetan bowls, gongs, string instruments and, of course, the organ. Event will be part of the new concept Sonic Meditation of music and community events by organist Katty. Musicians will create a relaxed evening in a church space as visitors are not familiar with it. Music will be freely experienced seated, lying down and in motion. All, of course, with respect for this sacred place.

Line-up:

19:00 | Josef Sedloň (DJ set)

20:00 | Stanislav Abraham (sound therapy)

21:00 | Katta + Irena and Vojtěch Havel (concert)

22:15| Pierre Urban (DJ set)

Upcoming concerts

Past Concerts

"The organ belongs in the church. I love playing in sacred spaces, as that's where the organ sounds best. At the same time I want to have the freedom and the opportunity to get the organ into places where it can't normally be heard. And that's what led me to want to build my own touring instrument."

"My organ sound is made up of samples of some of the most beautiful instruments from various countries and historical periods. Working with Jiri Zurek, the head of the Sonus Paradisi project, and his team, I documented original and rare instruments from around the world to create a unique palette of organ sounds that represents my ideal for the instrument." (www.sonusparadisi.cz)