Stockhausen Knocks on Heaven’s Door

Karlheinz Stockhausen was a composer known for odd, high-concept pieces which stretched the boundaries of music. For one of the last pieces of music he wrote, that boundary stretched beyond conventional instruments. Stockhausen’s “Heaven’s Door” calls for a percussionist to beat upon a cathedral door. WABE’s Myke Johns spoke to DJ Betsill, a Stone Mountain instrument maker and Dr. Stuart Gerber, Associate Professor of Percussion at Georgia State University, who built one specifically for the concert hall.

You can find a detailed walkthrough of the building process on Betsill’s website.