Commission to Paul Pinto

Sankt Peter as an “art station” (Kunst-Station) is a unique place of dialogue between faith and liturgy with contemporary art and music. The late Gothic church interior, which has been repeatedly redesigned over the centuries, is now largely free of artwork and pews – an empty space for spirituality as an aesthetic free space, as a non-utilitarian space that is culturally consistently rooted in the present. For Cologne’s rich contemporary music scene, Sankt Peter is one of the most important performance venues.

The organ of the Kunst-Station Sankt Peter is considered the prototype of organs for contemporary organ music. It is internationally renowned and has an unmistakable character. It plays a prominent role in concert life and in the liturgy. Its special characteristics are: the numerous percussion registers, the richly differentiated number of aliquot registers (seventh, ninth, eleventh), the unusual composition of the mixed voices (cymbals, aeolian harps, cornett), the wind chokes, mixture setters and key fetters. In 2022, the organ received a new control system (hyper organ). This allows organists to work as ‘sound designers’ in a forward-looking manner thanks to numerous new functions such as delay, staccato, pulse and prolong.

With be today, a concert series is to be launched at the Kunst-Station Sankt Peter from the 2025/26 season onwards, focusing on world premieres. The Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation is enabling the commission to Paul Pinto. The composer lives in New York and works as a composer, performer and singer. His work is multi-layered and interdisciplinary. In 2017, for example, he wrote and realised the opera Thomas Paine in Violence with Joan LaBarbara in the leading role. Most recently, he developed the score and the video I pass’d a church for the string quartet The Rhythm Method and the immersive music video installation Whiteness.

Further information:
sankt-peter-koeln.de

Date

July 10, 2026
Kunst-Station Sankt Peter, Cologne