about me

In miners' terminology, the phrase *vor Ort* (on site) refers to the working face—the end of a tunnel where excavation is actively taking place. Someone working *vor Ort* is driving a tunnel forward. Kurt Heiling, however, is not a miner but a musician and painter. His work on site is more akin to the voyage of discovery undertaken by an archaeologist, who uses a brush to gently clear dust from what has been uncovered. As part of the *Vor Ort Kompositionen* (On-Site Compositions) project, Kurt Heiling engages with existing forms and structures. He interprets specific details of the surroundings through organ music. Whether dealing with the staircases and confessionals of Gothic churches, the cracked walls and roof trusses of old wooden barns, or the connecting lines and ventilation ducts of modern conference halls, Heiling composes—right there on the spot—what he sees. For Heiling, projecting his paintings is not about explanation or demystification; rather, his aim is to keep the images fluid, allowing them to merge with the specific characteristics of the location and enabling the discovery of something new. This playful approach to the new—this interplay between image and environment—finds expression in Heiling’s music. His organ improvisations lend the project’s performances a profound sense of authenticity. What Heiling offers is not a musical retelling, but an act of creation in the here and now. The listener accompanies the composer as he works on site. Erwin Bruckner