Anna Lapwood
ATLANTIC CITY – International organ performer Anna Lapwood will host a small group of music students and pipe organ enthusiasts 10 a.m. Saturday, April 6 at Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall.
Lapwood has taken the classical music world by storm over the last few years and has utilized social media platforms to bring the pipe organ back to the foreground of music. Playing themes from “How to Train Your Dragon,” “Pirates of the Caribbean,” and “The DaVinci Code,” she has impressed audiences that the pipe organ can not only play the classical works long associated with it but also modern compositions, thrilling audiences of all ages. Lapwood has already brought many young students into viewing the pipe organ as a truly remarkable instrument, not something relegated to churches, classical concerts, or horror films.
According to Clemency Burton-Hill of The Sunday Times, Lapwood is much more than a gifted organist, choral conductor and social media sensation, “she’s a star on a mission,” and has pioneered the hashtag #playlikeagirl in an industry that has been dominated by men for many years.
“I feel there’s a responsibility to help provide the opportunity for young girls to realize they could be an organist too. I think the reason they don’t take it up is because they don’t even think about it. They don’t see visible female role models playing the organ. It tends to be seen as
either something for a certain kind of man or a little old lady, and that’s not something a little girl is going to aspire to be,” she said.
Attendees will also get to tour the Midmer-Losh pipe organ – the largest pipe organ in the world – and visit the organ shop to see how the pipe organ works and is being restored.
Free tickets are available for local students in grades 6-12 by visiting www.boardwalkorgans.org or calling 609-402-9584, ext. 700.
