Carlo Curley

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Carlo Curley (24 August 1952 – 11 August 2012) was a flamboyant and popular classical concert organist. Self-dubbed "the Pavarotti of the Organ", he was one of only a few concert organists worldwide who support themselves exclusively by giving recitals, concerts and master classes, without any supplement from teaching or church position. Curley was cosmopolitan, and referred to three places as ‘home’: England, Scandinavia and North Carolina (USA). Curley was born into a musical family in North Carolina, USA, and attended the North Carolina School of the Arts. He subsequently enjoyed advanced tuition with Virgil Fox, Robert Elmore, George Thalben-Ball and coached privately with Arthur Poister. He also was influenced greatly by long-time friend and confidant, Robert Noehren, for whom he often played. Noehren was full of praise for Curley’s talent and once wrote to a colleague in the early 1980s that “Curley could easily become the new Anton Heiller”. Curley’s basic approach to performing, while very much his own, pays homage primarily to that of Virgil Fox, aiming to make classical organ music popular to a wider audience, often including pieces from other classical genres arranged and transcribed by himself. Curley was the first classical organist to perform a solo organ recital at the White House, and also played before several European heads of state. He toured extensively throughout the world, and had a large and loyal following. The Carlo Curley Concert Circle, based in

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