Saturday, October 25, 2025, 10:30 AM
LMTA Central building, Balcony Theatre (Gedimino ave. 42, Vilnius)
THE FIRST EVENT ABOUT THE EKMELIC ORGAN WAS HELD IN LITHUANIA
On October 25, 2025, the series of lectures and creative workshops “Between the Keys: Ekmel Organs and Modern Tuning Technologies” took place for the first time in Lithuania.
The 72-EDO organ, recently brought from Salzburg, was presented during the event. During the creative workshop, M. K. Čiurlionis’ Prelude in G major and improvisations on its theme were performed, as well as Dzūkų monodys, performed on this uniquely tuned organ. Čiurlionis always felt the beauty of Lithuanian folk songs and tried to recreate it in his music, so these improvisations allowed for a new look at traditional melodics in the context of microtonal harmony.
The event participants listened to Elisa Järvi’s lecture on the quarter-tone piano and its development from 1924 to 2025, and Juhani Nuorvala’s lecture on the 72-EDO tuning system and its application in playing the Ekmelic organ.
Juhani Nuorvala also demonstrated the analysis of a recording of a Lithuanian monody using the program “Melodyne”. He later performed this monody on a 72-EDO organ, an instrument whose tuning is not constant and can be changed. This allowed him to compare different tuning options by ear and search for the most authentic sound, completely removed from the usual 12-TET system.
In the afternoon, a practical workshop was held, where participants tested the 72-EDO ekmel organ tuning system and discussed its creative potential. This first event of its kind in Lithuania attracted the interest of musicians, researchers and students, and the discussions revealed new perspectives on microtonal music and modern tuning technologies.
The lectures were given by Elisa Järvi and Juhani Nuorvala from the Sibelius Academy of Music. The creative workshops were supervised by Dr. Vytautas Germanavičius (KTU, ISCM Lithuanian Section) and Dr. Božena Čiurlionienė (LMTA PARC).
LMTA, in collaboration with the Mozarteum University of Salzburg and the Ekmelic Music Society (Austria), has purchased a microtonal organ, which has been brought to the Latvian Academy of Music. This instrument will be used for seven years, providing students, teachers and researchers with the opportunity to work practically with microtonal music performance technologies. This is an important and sustainable result of the project, strengthening the international prestige of the LMTA.
Subject matter (instrument) and creative consultations were provided and will be provided in the future (if needed) by foreign partners – Dr. Agustin Castilla-Avila (President of the Ekmelic Music Society) and composer Sander Germanus (Head of the Huygens-Fokker Foundation, Microtonal Music Center in Amsterdam).
