Paul Jacobs
Paul Jacobs made musical history at the age of 23 when, on the 250th anniversary of the death of J. S. Bach in 2000, he played the composer's complete organ music in an 18-hour non-stop marathon in Pittsburgh. Today, Mr. Jacobs is one of America's most active organists with performances in North America, South America, Australia, Asia, and Europe. He is also among the youngest faculty appointments at The Juilliard School, where he was named chairman of the organ department in 2004. He has just been awarded Juilliard's 2007 William Schuman Scholars Chair, received previously by such artists as Milton Babbitt, the Juilliard String Quartet, and Fred Sherry, which is presented annually to an artist and educator who has made significant contributions both to the intellectual and artistic life of the Juilliard community.
Known for his "charismatic showmanship and unflagging exuberance" (Wall Street Journal), Mr. Jacobs possesses a vast repertoire spanning from the 16th century through contemporary times. He has performed the complete organ works of Olivier Messiaen in a series of nine-hour, one-day marathons in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington D.C., Chicago, where the Chicago Tribune called him "one of the most supremely gifted young organists of his generation," and in New York, where The New York Times praised his "supple technique and vivid interpretive imagination."
This season Mr. Jacobs will crisscross the continent giving recitals and master classes in cities large and small throughout the U.S. and Canada. Among them are Atlanta, Denver, Edmonton, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Toronto, and Washington, D. C. Highlights include a recital on the new Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ, the largest concert hall organ in America, at Philadelphia's Kimmel Center and a return to Los Angeles-where last season he performed the Messiaen organ cycle-for a performance on the new Gehry organ at Disney Hall.
Paul Jacobs began studying the piano at the age of six and the organ at age 13. At 15 he was appointed head organist of a parish of 3,500 families in his hometown of Washington, Pennsylvania. Mr. Jacobs studied at The Curtis Institute of Music, where he double-majored in organ with John Weaver and harpsichord with Lionel Party. At Yale University, where Mr. Jacobs subsequently studied organ with Thomas Murray, he received a Master of Music degree and Artist Diploma and was awarded several honors, including the Dean's Prize and the Faculty Prize of the Institute of Sacred Music. Most recently, Mr. Jacobs was presented with the Yale School of Music's Distinguished Alumni Award.
Mr. Jacobs has captured first prize in numerous competitions, including the 1999 Fort Wayne National Organ Competition and the 1998 Albert Schweitzer National Organ Competition and is the first organist ever to be honored with the Harvard Musical Association's Arthur W. Foote Award.
In addition to concert appearances and teaching, Mr. Jacobs has been a featured performer at national and regional conventions of the American Guild of Organists and performs frequently at festivals throughout the U.S. and abroad. He has appeared on American Public Media's "Pipedreams" and "St. Paul Sunday," Bavarian Radio, Brazilian Arts Television, ABC-TV's World News Tonight, Australian Broadcasting, and NPR's Morning Edition.
Content Copyright © 2007 RI AGO