Carsten Ehret-Pyka · Composing for organ

Carsten Ehret-Pyka (*1988) is the cantor of the Protestant parish of Leichlingen (Rhineland). He is responsible for the parish's diverse choral work. He also organises the nationally renowned Leichlingen Organ Summer.

Carsten Ehret-Pyka is particularly fond of the music of the 20th and 21st centuries in its entire spectrum. In his organ concerts, he plays both older works of modern music, such as those by Ernst Krenek or György Ligeti, as well as current compositions that have been written in recent years.

He wants to pass on his enthusiasm for this music to young ears, which last year led to a performance of Gordon Kampe's Sechse kommen durch die ganze Welt with one hundred and fifty primary school children and a professional ensemble. This autumn, he will be presenting a concert project based around Steve Reich's Tehilim, in which (amateur) choir, young people and professional musicians make music together.

Carsten Ehret-Pyka studied school music and church music (B and A exams) in Mannheim, Lausanne, Heidelberg and Mainz. In 2019, he passed his concert exam in Gerhard Gnann's class with honours. Other influential teachers were Johannes Michel, Christiane Michel-Ostertun and Hans-Jürgen Kaiser (organ) as well as Wolfgang Seeliger and Ralf Otto (conducting).

In 2018, he won 1st prize at the Neuss International Organ Singing Competition. Concerts as an organist have taken him to the cathedral churches of Mainz, Fulda and Xanten as well as Freiburg Minster, among others.