Final Descent Presents: SUB MASS — Downes / Builder / Zöschg / Challenger

Following a four-day residency at Sankt Markus Church, Final Descent Artist in Residence 2026 culminates in a concert with Kit Downes, Calum Builder, Tom Challenger, and Laura Zöschg.

At the centre is the meeting between the church’s historic pipe organ and Builder’s (Re)constructed Pipe Organ – a modular system built from recycled pipes. Together with saxophone and voice, the ensemble unfolds new music shaped by the physical forces of air, pressure, and resonance.

Expect a performance in which improvisational dialogue reflects on precomposed motives, all revolving around air as both a musical medium and a concept.

Vibrating organ pipes, acoustically amplified reeds, and voice will fill the space, as the group, gathered specifically for the residency, unfolds new, site-specific music written for and with Sct Thomas Church.
The residency and concert are extraordinarily supported by the Danish Arts Council & Frederiksberg Fonden ♡

Date: Thursday 20.08.26
Doors: 19:00
Show: 19:30
Price: 100 dkr / 50 dkr for students
Venue: Sct Thomas Kirke, Rolighedsvej 16, 1958 Frederiksberg

Kit Downes (UK) is one of Europe’s leading contemporary organists and pianists in improvisation and modern music. A BBC Jazz Award winner and Mercury Prize nominee, he has released acclaimed solo work on ECM Records, including Obsidian, Dreamlife of Debris, and Vermillion.

His music blends composition and improvisation, focusing on the organ’s mechanics, airflow, and resonance, often using small church organs. Alongside his solo work, he collaborates widely, performs internationally, and teaches at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

Calum Builder (AU/DK) is a Copenhagen-based composer, saxophonist, and organ builder working between composition and improvisation, focusing on cyclical structures and the physicality of sound.
He created the (Re)constructed Pipe Organ, a modular instrument built from recycled church pipes and treated as an experimental, proto-synthetic system.

Laura Zöschg (IT/DK) is a Copenhagen-based vocalist, composer, and improviser working in experimental voice, free improvisation, and contemporary music, and a member of CRRNT Collective.
Her practice explores the voice’s full range, from fragile and airy to raw and expressive, often focusing on breath, resonance, and physical presence, sometimes incorporating instruments and electronics.

Tom Challenger (UK) is a London-based saxophonist, improviser, and composer whose work moves within the tension between free improvisation and structured composition. He appeared on Downes’ ECM-releases Obsidian and Dreamlife of Debris, and has also worked with, among others, Evan Parker, Charles Hayward, and Alex Hawkins. He is the founder of Sche-ima Records.