Nothing Written Down: An Evening of Improvisation
St. Michael's Church 71 Broad Street, Charleston, South Carolina 29401
Courtesy of St. Michael's Church
Julian Beutmiller at the organ of St. Michael's Church, Charleston.
Organist Julian Beutmiller improvises an entire concert on themes handed to him by the audience. Nothing is written down and nothing is rehearsed: concertgoers submit melodies before the performance, and Beutmiller shapes them in real time on the organ of St. Michael's Church, building fugues, meditations and full-scale improvisations from tunes he is seeing for the first time. It is a discipline with deep roots in the organ tradition and almost no modern equivalent, and it produces a concert that cannot be repeated. Admission is $10 at the door; children attend free.