Selkirk music instructor Gilles Parenteau’s organ doesn’t look like it belongs in a traditional church. Instead it resembles a science fiction era robot with multiple moving appendages, and while he plays audiences could be forgiven for mistaking the 53-year-old musician for some sort of futuristic cyborg.
With five moving keyboards, a pedal board and the equivalent of 7000 pipes’ worth of musical capability, all emanating from his small laptop, Parenteau's musical instrument digital interface machine is quite literally a “virtual symphony”, capable of emulating a huge range of instruments and effects.
“The organ is a two thousand-year-old concept. You’ve got two hands and two feet and you play as much as you can. But I see something in the future of this instrument. I can’t say I built it, but it’s certainly custom-designed,” said the 53-year-old Nelsonite, who has been living in the Kootenays since 1990.
Parenteau described his organ as being similar to the motorcycle used by New Zealander Burt Munro, who set the land-speed record in 1967.
“Here was the world’s fastest machine, but it had been cobbled together with Velcro and duct tape. That’s like my organ. It looks like I just mashed a bunch of things together, but it’s actually the ultimate orchestral instrument.”
Parenteau will be showing off his musical abilities during a concert at Shambhala Hall on February 2 at 7:30 p.m.
And though it may seem like he’s taking advantage of automation, the truth is he’s producing every sound the audience hears.
“That’s the key thing that fights against today’s trend. That’s where I put the stop. There’s no automation, no DJ, no pressing a button, no loop play. Every sounds needs to come from a finger or a foot, 100 per cent live. I believe the biggest detriment to music today is automation. It’s killing us.”
Parenteau has been working on this one-man symphony project since the 90s. He plans to play a broad repertoire at the concert.
“I’ll be doing symphonic stuff, like John Williams’ Star Wars, and then I’ll do the theme to Mission Impossible, then Led Zeppelin, Bach, of course. It’s huge, stylistically speaking,” he said.
He believes the capabilities of the organ give it the potential to be a great instrument going into the future.
“I would like to see a new chapter opened in the history of the organ,” he said. “To me the concept of the organ is an orchestral instrument that is played with two hands and two feet and it’s live. That is what I want to see survive, more so than how it’s built or what it does.”
Parenteau will be joined that evening by guest singer Amy Lynn Posnikoff.
“She has a beautiful voice, and she’ll be doing a couple pieces of country music. People who know Mary Chaplin Carpenter, Amy’s voice is just like that,” he said.
Tickets for the show are $15 and are available from Otter Books in Nelson. To find out more about the Selkirk music program visit selkirk.ca/program/music.