Organist

Claude Debussy's "Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune" is a masterpiece of Impressionism. Inspired by a poem by the Symbolist Stéphane Mallarmé, the music paints the picture of a dreaming faun on a warm afternoon. With floating flute sounds and gentle harmonies, Debussy transports us into a world between dream and reality – a sensory delight in sound. Not many works of the 20th century are as naturally included in concert programs today as the music of Maurice Duruflé, who passed away in 1986. Particularly his sacred vocal music continues to enjoy enduring popularity, surely also due to its accessible musical language. Duruflé had little interest in breaking with tradition; in his 1947 Requiem, he engaged with the model of the two generations older Gabriel Fauré and let his enthusiasm for Gregorian chant run free. However, the work is not backward-looking: Contrary to the operatic settings of the Requiem in the 19th century, Duruflé focused less on the pains of the Last Judgment and more on the otherworldly redemption. Chief conductor Sir Donald Runnicles and the MDR Radio Choir infuse this work with a special intensity through their sensitivity and beauty of sound.

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Sir Donald with Debussy

Palace of Culture

While he claims there’s no “ready recipe” for improvisation, Thomas Ospital can whip up ingenious on-the-spot renditions of everything from classical staples and national anthems to “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” See what the French organist comes up with next when he makes his Walt Disney Concert Hall debut.

Thomas Ospital

Walt Disney Concert Hall

This recital is free and the public is welcome!

VISITING ARTIST SERIES: Thomas Ospital, organ

Lied Center of Kansas

Future Chief Conductor Marie Jacquot arrives in Cologne with a room-filling classic. The Frenchwoman will take over as the WDR Symphony Orchestra's conductor in the summer of 2026. She's already stoking anticipation with Anton Bruckner's Seventh. The symphony electrifies with its sky-high verve. Bruckner was himself a church musician and plays the orchestra's instruments like the stops of an organ. Thus, the combination with works for the "Queen of Instruments" is a natural fit. Parisian organist Thomas Ospital will enrich the program with music by Handel and Jehan Alain.

Marie Jacquot - Bruckner's Seventh

Museum Ludwig

A classic of film history, heard anew: In the parish church of Bad Ischl, Thomas Ospital, titular organist of Saint-Eustache in Paris, will accompany FW Murnau's expressionist silent film "Nosferatu" live. Ospital is one of the great improvisers of our time – his organ playing is physical, dazzling, and fearless.

CHURCH'KLANG: Organ moves! – Nosferatu

Parish Bad Ischl

Playing the organ demands not only virtuosity, but full-body involvement: in addition to the keys, the pedals have to be played with one’s feet. Thomas Ospital, originally from the French Basque Country, has mastered this art like few others. Born in 1990, he has been the titular organist at the great organ of Saint-Eustache in Paris since 2015. He calls artists playing the organ adventurers, since they always have to adjust to new instruments and new spaces – usually with very little time.

Organ Recital Thomas Ospital

Freiberg Cathedral

Both create music through the flow of air, and yet they could hardly be more different: the powerful, large organ and the intimate, modest flute. In this concert, Thomas Ospital, organist of St Eustache Church in Paris, and Emmanuel Pahud, principal flautist of the Berliner Philharmoniker, demonstrate how well the two instruments go together – with dreamy, often highly virtuosic works by Jehan Alain, Camille Saint-Saëns and Frank Martin. The full splendour of the organ’s sound comes into its own in the transcription of Saint-Saëns’ Danse macabre as well as  in Liszt's Consolation and his variations on Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen”.

Organ matinee Thomas Ospital and Emmanuel Pahud

Berliner Philharmonie

"The artist's youthful enthusiasm boldly dusts off the austere image of this monumental instrument." (Resmusica)

Dating back to 1924, the silent film "The Navigator" was Buster Keaton's biggest success. Packed with hilarious gags and absurd situations, the film tells the adventures of a wacky couple - Rollo, played by Keaton himself, and Betsy - who find themselves alone and adrift on a ship in the Pacific, far from their servants. Thomas Ospital, Professor of Organ at the Paris Conservatoire and titular organist of the Church of Saint-Eustache in Paris, puts all his improvisational talent into this masterpiece of silent cinema.

Cine-concert : The Navigator

Salle Philharmonique de Liège

“In the right hands — and feet — the impact [of the Lay Family Concert Organ] is nothing if not impressive,” says the Dallas Morning News.

Join us for an impressive organ recital featuring Thomas Ospital, Titulaire of the grand organ at St. Eustache Church in Paris, who has quickly earned a place amongst the world’s finest concert organists.

Thomas Ospital Gould Family Organ Recital Series

Meyerson Symphony Center

Thomas Ospital opens his organ recital with the American national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner. But what composer Dudley Buck does with it will take your breath away — there’s nothing remotely patriotic or martial about it. And that’s not the only sly twist. The fact that Ospital — a Frenchman born in Bayonne in 1990 and, since 2015, titular organist of Saint-Eustache in Paris — should become the “Voice of America” is enough to make you smile. Just as amusing is the observation that America, an earlier, unofficial U.S. national anthem varied by Charles Ives, is actually based on an English tune. But Ospital doesn’t stop at clever punchlines. He will also play a brilliant transcription of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s symphonic poem The Isle of the Dead as well as the Symphonie-Passion by the French organ master Marcel Dupré, who was inspired by the largest organ in the world, the Wanamaker Grand Court Organ in Philadelphia. The rousing “closer” is Iain Farrington’s Live Wire — a piece that sounds as if it were being played by a jazz band.

KKL Luzern Concert Hall

The concert hall's most powerful instrument unfolds in all its power when star soloist Thomas Ospital tames the organ to be both the orchestra's partner and opponent.

Organist

Thomas Ospital

Events

Upcoming events

Sep 12, 2026

Thomas Ospital · Lucerne Festival

Oct 8, 2026

Organ Festival · Musikhuset Aarhus

Past events

Mar 28, 2026

Sir Donald with Debussy · Dresdner Philharmonie

Feb 8, 2026

Thomas Ospital · Los Angeles Philharmonic

Future and recently performed repertoire

Organ in Symphonie-Passion by Dupré

Lucerne Festival

Organ in Requiem by Duruflé

Dresdner Philharmonie

Organ in Romance by Saint-Saëns

Berliner Philharmoniker

Organ in The Star-Spangled Banner, Op. 23 by Buck

Lucerne Festival

Organ in Partita for Violin No. 2 by Bach

Berliner Philharmoniker

Organ in Organ Concerto by Poulenc

Musikhuset Aarhus

Organ in Consolations by Liszt

Berliner Philharmoniker

Organ in Variations on America by Ives

Lucerne Festival

Organ in The Isle of the Dead by Rachmaninov

Lucerne Festival

Organ in Sonata da chiesa by Martin

Berliner Philharmoniker

Organ in Organ Concerto in F major by Händel

WDR Sinfonieorchester

Organ in Live Wire by Farrington

Lucerne Festival

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