Credited for "smashing cultural and classical taboos", Carpenter is renowned for sporting a mohawk and glittering leather costumes. He dresses like an ice dancer and performs with great physical drama with his body convulsing and his legs moving like Fred Astaire.
Carpenter was educated at the Julliard School in New York, which led to a recording contract and the first Grammy nomination for a solo organist.
He then embarked on a globetrotting career, posing as the instrument's punk prodigy with a personal mission: "To reclaim the instrument from the fusty realm of vicars and nerds."
The UK's The Guardian newspaper described Carpenter as a virtuoso composer-performer unique among keyboardists. His approach to the organ is smashing the stereotypes of organists and organ music while generating a level of acclaim, exposure and controversy unprecedented for an organist.
Through his international concerts, he has become known for virtuosity, showmanship, technique and arrangements for the organ. Some have criticised - and some have praised Carpenter for his unorthodox interpretations of the standard organ repertoire, often ignoring composers' notations and taking dramatic liberties.
According to The Los Angeles Times, "Carpenter is technically the most accomplished organist I have ever witnessed ... and the most musical."
His repertoire - from the complete works of Bach and Cesar Franck, to hundreds of transcriptions of non-organ works, his original compositions and his collaborations with jazz and pop artists - is perhaps the largest and most diverse of any organist.
Carpenter began his worldwide organ concert tours in 2005, giving numerous debuts at venues including the Royal Albert Hall, Melbourne Town Hall and the Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow. His 2014 concert programme will begin in the Lincoln Centre, New York, then progress to all the major concert halls in Europe.
Carpenter is one of the few performing artists to make a practice of meeting his audience in person before his performances - often shaking hands and signing autographs on the floor of a concert venue.
Unique in New Zealand, the new organ console in Waiapu Cathedral is on a mobile platform enabling it to be moved to centre stage. This will give the Napier audience an unsurpassed view of Cameron and his incredible technique. Hawke's Bay now has arguably the finest concert organ in the country - and in a building acknowledged to be superb acoustically.
Tickets are on sale at Ticketdirect and the Napier Municipal Theatre Box Office.
For more information contact Gary Bowler at the Office of Waiapu Cathedral.
