artists
Annie Bloch
Annie Bloch © Leonie Braun
Challenging conventions, exploring new sonic realms.
The organ is often an isolated instrument, but not for Annie Bloch. The artist, who moves between the roles of solo instrumentalist, composer and indie-folk artist, takes the instrument out of its usual settings and soundscapes. Experimental organ music and jazzy pop are just as compatible in her work as church vaults and festival grounds.
Born in 1994 and raised in a small town in Lower Saxony, Annie Bloch initially made music in churches and in her own bedroom. She moved to Cork, Ireland, to study music and English literature, before moving to Cologne in 2018, drawn by the city’s many organs and the opportunity to work on band projects. There she studied composition and organ.
She continually explores the possibilities of the church organ through improvisation and unconventional concert formats. Annie Bloch performs both as a soloist and in various ensembles, developing programmes that take the instrument out of its classical context: for example, The Mendelssohn Project with Emily Wittbrodt, or the site-specific solo programme *Alone with the Organ*, created for Hyperorgel at the Kunst-Station Sankt Peter. And anyone who plays the organ always thinks big: with her ten-piece indie-folk ensemble I DEPEND, she released a debut album in 2025 featuring recordings that are both orchestral and intimate. As a composer, songwriter and instrumentalist, she is keen to compose for unusual instrumentations and to forge new musical connections.
With her solo album *luvt*, announced for October 2026, Annie Bloch is opening a new chapter in her work as an organist and composer. The subsequent tour of Germany and Canada is also intended to serve as a starting point for bringing the relatively small and portable portative organ into new, secular contexts and scenic locations, whilst expanding her collaboration with artists from the worlds of jazz and experimental music. Using just a few stops, live looping and subtle effects, she creates a minimalist soundscape that bridges contemporary composition, ambient, minimal music and experimental pop.