It happened under the cathedral lights, with hundreds of pipes towering above her like silver trees. Anna Lapwood — the young organist who has become a global ambassador for the instrument — leaned forward, hands trembling slightly, and let the opening chords of Olivier Messiaen’s L’Ascension flood the hall.

Later, she would laugh and call it “just notes on a page.” But in that moment, sitting at the console in her sequined jacket sparkling like a constellation, Anna felt something she had never quite experienced before.

“When the music makes you feel like you’re about to take off,” she whispered afterwards, eyes shining. “This was the first time I ever felt that the organ wasn’t just an instrument — it was a rocket ship.”

The First Flight

The piece was Messiaen’s “Transports de joie” from L’Ascension — written in the 1930s but still considered one of the most powerful organ works ever composed. The music grows from silence into a blaze of color, stacking chords until the air itself seems to shimmer.

For Anna, who had played Bach, Duruflé, and even her own improvisations countless times, this was different. As she pulled the stops and the cathedral shook, she said it felt as if the ground dropped away.

“I remember gripping the keys, thinking: this isn’t just sound, this is flight. It felt as if the music had grown wings and carried me with it.”

A Moment Shared With the World

The audience felt it too. A hush fell as the chords surged upward, then a roar of applause broke through when the last note faded into silence. One woman in the front row reportedly wiped tears, saying to her neighbor, “I didn’t come here for religion, but I think I just had one.”

Later, when Anna posted a clip online, the caption read simply: “When the music makes you feel like you’re about to take off ❤️🚀.” It went viral within hours, with thousands of comments from listeners describing the same sensation.

Why This Moment Mattered

Anna Lapwood has often spoken about her mission: to make the organ feel less intimidating, more human, more alive. And here it was — not in a lecture, not in words, but in raw experience.

“It wasn’t about technique or perfection,” she explained. “It was about surrender. Letting the music move through me, letting it lift me.”

In many ways, it was the perfect symbol of her career: an artist turning centuries-old tradition into something modern, emotional, viral.

The Legacy of a Take-Off

Since that night, Anna has described every performance of L’Ascension as a reminder of the first time she truly understood the power of the organ. She has compared it to a pilot’s first flight, the moment you realize gravity no longer holds you.

And fans agree. To this day, whenever she plays the piece, the audience leans forward, waiting for that instant when the pipes roar, and the hall itself seems to leave the ground.

For Anna Lapwood, the words “about to take off” aren’t just a caption anymore. They’re a promise — that music can still surprise, still transform, still make us believe we’re flying.