The film, Interstellar, was co-written, directed and produced by Christopher Nolan and released in 2014. Its soundtrack – in which the organ is the primary instrument – was written by the award-winning German film score composer Hans Zimmer, in collaboration with Nolan and Roger Sayer, who at that time was director of music and organist at London’s Temple Church. Sayer recorded the major organ part – which, unlike organ effects used elsewhere, underpins the narrative throughout the film – on the church’s four-manual Harrison & Harrison organ. Originally created for a Scottish ballroom, this instrument was gifted to Temple Church as it emerged from the Blitz, and was fully restored at a cost of £750,000 in 2013.

The film presents an apocalyptic scenario of humanity being forced to look for another home, and Nolan wanted the sonorities of the organ to provide the necessary gravitas. Zimmer originally created the soundtrack electronically, using samples from Salisbury Cathedral’s Willis instrument. At this point Nolan insisted on a live instrument and the hunt for a suitable venue was under way. Zimmer commented: ‘There’s something very human about it because it can only make a sound with air, and it needs to breathe. On each note you hear the breath, you hear the exhale.’ Nolan added, ‘You feel the human presence in every sound ... there’s an intimacy as well as massive scale, sometimes within a few bars.’

In 2024, ten years after the film’s release, Sayer will be performing his own transcription of the soundtrack around the globe, calling his tour ‘Interstellar 10’. His version of the original score was created for the live ‘Interstellar’ show – attended by Nolan, Zimmer, and Professors Brian Cox and Stephen Hawking – at a packed Royal Albert Hall a year after the original film was released. This year Sayer has already performed the score in UK venues, including the O2 and Ripon Cathedral, as well as venues in Australia, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland; he has commented on the impact it has had especially on younger listeners, as well as bringing the organ to the attention of a global audience.

‘Instellar 10’ will be launched on 20 January 2024 at St John’s, Smith Square, London, where Sayer is currently organist-in-residence. He told C&O: ‘This event will include an account of my experience – unique among organists – of creating the soundtrack with composer Hans Zimmer and director Christopher Nolan at Temple Church, and is sufficiently flexible for the different audiences I will encounter in the cathedrals and large concert venues of the world, family concerts and conventions such as the Glasgow World Science Fiction Convention. An important dimension of the project is working with youth initiatives worldwide – for example, with the Royal Canadian College of Organists, government schemes as well as voluntary groups – in order to engage and inspire the upcoming generation with the wonderful capabilities of the organ and its thrilling music. I can’t wait to get started!’

Further details and tickets are available at sjss.org.uk.