The Organ Symphony

Illuminated

An extraordinary one-off symphony brings to life the stories of five people and their relationship with one of their vital organs.

Like a symphony orchestra, our organs work in harmony to execute the movement that is human life. We don’t often think about our relationship to these internal cogs that keep us alive. For most people, the connection remains distant. For others, it is ever present. In The Organ Symphony, we encounter our five vital organs – the heart, lungs, brain, kidneys and liver – through the eyes of five people, each with a special relationship to one of the five organs.

Our brain is an Emeritus Professor in Computer Science, Steve Furbar, whose work is focused on understanding the human brain via computing. Our kidney is writer Alison Moore, who donated one of her kidneys to her husband and simultaneously wrote a horror novella, based on the experience. Our liver is Dr Zhong Jiao, a Chinese Medical Doctor who focused on treating her postnatal depression by caring for her liver. Our heart is a men's group facilitator and agony uncle Kenny Mammarella-D'Cruz, who draws on his traumatic experiences of leaving his homeland and subsequent journey of self-discovery to help others foster positive relationships with their heart and emotions. Liz, our representative of the lungs, unexpectedly experienced both her lungs collapsing in the space of two years

Each representative worked with the producer, Maia Miller-Lewis to illustrate their relationship to their organ through music, creating musical sketches that capture how they imagine their organ sounds.

These sketches were then taken by composer, David Owen Norris, who turned them into individual classical scores. In this way the five organs have become five sections of an orchestra. The heart, the vocals. The lungs, the brass. The kidneys the woodwind. The brain, the percussion. The liver, the strings.

David ultimately brought the five pieces together, working them into harmony to form the completely unique Organ Symphony.

With the wonderful assistance of Simon Webb, Carolyn Hendry, Jonathan Manner and Matthew Swann at the BBC, the individual pieces and the combined symphony was played out by the BBC Concert Orchestra and the BBC Singers at Maida Vale Studios in March 2025.

You can hear the full Organ Symphony piece here: https://loftusmedia.co.uk/project/the-organ-symphony/

Producer: Maia Miller-Lewis Executive producers: Jo Rowntree and Kirsten Lass Composer and conductor: David Owen Norris With thanks to the BBC Concert Orchestra and the BBC Singers

A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4