Carlo James Curley (August 24, 1952 – August 11, 2012) was an American classical concert

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists. In addition, an organist may accompany congregational ...

who lived much of his later life in Great Britain.Black, Fergus (7 October 1989).
Carlo Curley
. ''

Glasgow Herald ''The Herald'' is a Scottish broadsheet newspaper founded in 1783. ''The Herald'' is the longest running national newspaper in the world and is the eighth oldest daily paper in the world. The title was simplified from ''The Glasgow Herald'' in ...

''. p. 4, Retrieved 6 November 2010. Curley was born into a musical family in

Monroe, North Carolina Monroe is a city in and the county seat of Union County, North Carolina, United States. The population increased from 32,797 in 2010 to 34,551 in 2020. It is within the rapidly growing Charlotte metropolitan area. Monroe has a council-manager ...

, US, and attended the

North Carolina School of the Arts The University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) is an arts school in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It grants high school, undergraduate, and graduate degrees. Founded in 1963 as the North Carolina School of the Arts by then-Governo ...

and by the age of 15 was organist at a large Baptist church in Atlanta, Georgia. He subsequently studied with

Virgil Fox Virgil Keel Fox (May 3, 1912 in Princeton, Illinois – October 25, 1980 in Palm Beach, Florida) was an American organist, known especially for his years as organist at Riverside Church in New York City, from 1946 to 1965, and his flamboyant "Heavy ...

, Robert Elmore,

George Thalben-Ball Sir George Thomas Thalben-Ball (18 June 1896 – 18 January 1987) was an Australian organist and composer who spent almost all his life in England. Early life George Thomas Ball (he later took the additional name of "Thalben") was born in Sydn ...

and

Arthur Poister Arthur William Poister (June 13, 1898 – February 25, 1980) was an eminent American organist, who was especially renowned as one of the country's leading pedagogues of future generations of musicians. Arthur Poister served as music director at ...

. His long-time friend and confidant Robert Noehren was another noted influence. At 18, he was director of music at

Girard College Girard College is an independent college preparatory five-day boarding school located on a 43-acre campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The school was founded and permanently endowed from the shipping and banking fortune of Stephen Girard upon hi ...

in Philadelphia. Curley developed his performance style in the manner of Virgil Fox, with respect to popularising classical organ music popular to a wider audience, which included his arrangements and transcriptions of pieces from other classical genres. He was the resident organist at the

Alexandra Palace Alexandra Palace is a Grade II listed entertainment and sports venue in London, situated between Wood Green and Muswell Hill in the London Borough of Haringey. It is built on the site of Tottenham Wood and the later Tottenham Wood Farm. Orig ...

in the 1970s and was the first classical organist to perform a solo organ recital at the

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for President Jimmy Carter. He also played before several European heads of state and toured extensively throughout the world, earning the marketing nickname "the Pavarotti of the Organ". He was one of only a few concert organists worldwide who supported themselves exclusively by giving recitals, concerts and master classes, without any supplement from teaching or church position. Curley used a substantial Allen touring organ where the venue lacked an instrument of sufficient scope to support his repertoire. He recorded commercially for various labels such as

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westin ...

, ProArte, Rediffusion and Decca International. He participated in several 'Battle of the Organs' concerts, and his final such concert was in June 2012 at Liverpool Anglican Cathedral with his friend Ian Tracey using a Copeman Hart instrument. He served as patron for numerous music societies as well as for the newly formed British Academy of Music. He was involved in organ design and construction and served as advisor to numerous clients, including Melbourne City Council (Australia), and The Cube, Shiroishi (Japan). His autobiography ''In The Pipeline'' was published by

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in 1998. One of his Allen organs is now used in the Cathedral of St Michael and St George in

Aldershot Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Alde ...

in the UK. The sheet organ music 'Carlo Curley Collection' is available from ChurchOrganWorld and consists of three pieces he often opened his recitals with; his unique arrangements of Largo from the ‘New World Symphony’, ‘Ar Hyd y Nos’ and ‘Eternal Father Strong to Save’. A life-long

bachelor A bachelor is a man who is not and has never been married.Bachelors are, in Pitt & al.'s phrasing, "men who live independently, outside of their parents' home and other institutional settings, who are neither married nor cohabitating". (). Etymol ...

, Curley died on 11 August 2012 aged 59 in

Melton Mowbray Melton Mowbray () is a town in Leicestershire, England, north-east of Leicester, and south-east of Nottingham. It lies on the River Eye, known below Melton as the Wreake. The town had a population 27,670 in 2019. The town is sometimes pro ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. His ashes are interred in the grounds of

Pershore Abbey Pershore Abbey, at Pershore in Worcestershire, was an Anglo-Saxon abbey and is now an Anglican parish church, the Church of the Holy Cross. History Foundation The foundation of the minster at Pershore is alluded to in a spurious charter of Kin ...

in Worcestershire.

Discography

Albums

*''Principals Unshackled'' (early 1970s), recorded at Fountain Street Church, Grand Rapids, Michigan *''Sculpture in Sound'' (1970s), recorded at Atlantis Sound Studios in Decatur, Georgia *''Carlo Curley Plays Bach'' (1978), recorded at Vangede Church, Copenhagen, Denmark (RCA) *''The Incredible Carlo Curley Plays the Organ of the Royal Albert Hall'' (1978) *''Carlo Curley – Goes Digital'' (1979), Chalfont Records *''Popular Organ Pieces'' (1984) *''The Finest Hour'' (1987), Proarte *''The Emperor's Fanfare'' (1990), Decca (on Argo label) *''Brightly Shining'' (1991), Decca (on Argo label) *''Organ Imperial'' (1991), Decca (on Argo label) *''Organ Fantasia'' (1992), Decca (on Argo label) *''Bach Favourite Organ Works'' (1992), Universal *''Dueling Organs'' (1993), Proarte - with Lyn Larsen *''The World of Carlo Curley'' (1994), Decca *''Bach Great Organ Works'' (1995), Decca *''Inaugural Concert'' (1997) *''Toccata - Organ Favourites'' (1998), Decca *''Concert Favorites'' (1998) *''A Genesis in Harmony'' (2003)

Video

*''Organ Imperial'' (1993), Decca *''The Carlo Curley Classic Collection'' volumes 1, 2 and 3 (2009)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Curley, Carlo 1952 births 2012 deaths American classical organists American male organists Musicians from North Carolina 20th-century classical musicians 20th-century American male musicians Male classical organists