Christoph Bull
Christoph Bull likes organ music, rock music and rocking organ music. Equally versed in classical and popular music, he is considered one of the most versatile and unique organists of our times. In his concerts, he presents the multicolored sounds, styles and collaborative aspects of the organ in a new light and excites wide audiences. Born in Mannheim, Germany, he’s performed and recorded around the world, including France, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark, Northern Ireland, Russia, India, Taiwan and El Salvador, at national and regional conventions of the American Guild of Organists and at venues such as Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, Lincoln Center in New York City, Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa, the Cathedrals of Moscow, Saint-Denis and Salzburg as well as rock clubs like The Viper Room, The Roxy and The Whisky in Los Angeles. He’s collaborated with leading orchestras, conductors, choirs and ensembles including the Los Angeles Master Chorale, James Conlon, Carl St.Clair, Pacific Chorale, Pacific Symphony and Grammy-winning Southwest Chamber Music. He improvised his first melodies on the piano at the age of five and gave his first organ recitals and rock concerts with a band at the age of twelve. He concertized with the National Youth Orchestra of Germany and was the subject of a longtime study about highly gifted musicians together with other artists such as pianist Lars Vogt. Following his graduation at Karl-Friedrich-Gymnasium Mannheim and organ studies at University of Church Music in Heidelberg and Musikhochschule Freiburg, he earned degrees at Berklee College of Music (majoring in Songwriting, graduating summa cum laude), University of Southern California (majoring in Organ) and American Conservatory of Music (majoring in Organ and Sacred Music) on multiple scholarships. His organ teachers were Cherry Rhodes, Hermann Schäffer, Ludwig Dörr, Samuel Swartz, Christoph Schöner and Paul Jordan. He also participated in master courses with Marie-Claire Alain, Guy Bovet, Craig Cramer and Rudi Lutz. He won prizes in numerous organ and composition competitions, including “Jugend musiziert”, Michael Masser Competition, Berklee College of Music Songwriting Competition and International Organ Competition Marcello Galanti. Christoph Bull is the creator of the genre-crossing, collaborative multi-media series organica, combining traditional and contemporary music. His collaborators include DJs, video artists, live painter, instrumentalists and singers. He has also contributed to projects by Steven Spielberg, Robin Williams, Harry Connick Jr., George Clinton and Bootsy Collins (Parliament Funkadelic), Cindy Lauper, Lili Haydn and Nishat Khan and opened the organ series at Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa and Villa Aurora in the Pacific Palisades. He’s received several awards from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers for creative and innovative concert programs and has released a number of CDs, including License To Chill, Old School, organica 2001, organica 2, and organica 3. His musical Treasure Island, a collaboration with lyricist Tim Mathews, was premiered in both the U.S. and Germany. His solo album First & Grand, the world premiere recording of the Walt Disney Concert Hall Organ, was celebrated by the international trade press and showcases the stylistic versatility and expressiveness of his playing. He is currently working on a new album with Michael Herberger of Naidoo-Herberger in Mannheim, Germany. His music has been broadcast on TV and radio, including on NPR’s flagship station in Southern California, KCRW, on Classical KUSC and the Minnesota Public Radio program “Pipedreams”. Christoph Bull is based in Los Angeles. In addition to his activities as a concert organist, composer, singer-songwriter, speaker, university organist and organ professor at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), he is organist-in-residence at First Congregational Church of Los Angeles, playing the largest church pipe organ in the world. Outside of music, Christoph is interested in politics, theology, cinema and sports. He’s read the whole Bible, Koran, Bhagavad Gita and Tao Te Ching, watched every Seinfeld episode and all Star Wars movies in a row in the chronological order of the storyline. He’s run the L.A. Marathon several times and won the National German Youth Championship in Baseball with his team BC Tornados Mannheim.
