Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts

Renowned Organist Paul Jacobs Performs Philadelphia Premiere of Wayne Oquin’s Reverie, and Additional Works at the Kimmel Center, May 8

APRIL 27, 2010

Program Highlights also include works of Mendelssohn, J.S. Bach, Reger, Franck, and a Rare Performance of Organ Work by Nadia Boulanger

 

"One of the most supremely gifted young organists of his generation" -Chicago Tribune on Paul Jacobs’ nine hour , one day marathon performance of Olivier Messiaen

 

Praised for his astounding capacity for memorization and his virtuoso marathon recitals, organist Paul Jacobs returns to the Kimmel Center to perform the Philadelphia premiere of Wayne Oquin’s Reverie and additional works on Verizon Hall’s Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ on Saturday, May 8, 2010 at 3pm.  Reverie is a newly commissioned piece created for Paul Jacobs by composer Wayne Oquin for the dedication of a new organ in New York City.

 

The program also includes: Max Reger’s monumental Second Sonata in D minor, which Jacobs describes as “fantastically imaginative, brimming with moments of ravishing tenderness and, at times, terrifying muscular force;” the Sonata in F Minor, Op. 65, No. 1 by Felix Mendelssohn; “a sparkling pair” of duetti by J. S. Bach; Cesar Franck’s Final in B-flat, Op. 21, which Jacobs describes as “energetic virtuosity infused with lyrical beauty"; and a rare performance of the Prelude in F Minor, one of the few existing works by Nadia Boulanger, known as one the most influential composition teachers in the 20th century.

A pre-concert Artist Chat will take place on the stage of Verizon Hall at 2:15pm with Paul Jacobs and Michael Barone, host of American Public Media's "Pipedreams."

Tickets for Paul Jacobs are $19 and $28 and can be purchased by calling 215-893-1999, online at www.kimmelcenter.org, or at the Kimmel Center box office, open daily from 10am to 6pm and later on performance evenings. (Additional fees may apply.) For group sales call 215-893-5883.

A limited number of $10 community rush tickets will be available for this performance. Tickets go on sale the day of the event and can be purchased at the Kimmel Center box office beginning at 11:30am prior to matinee performances. Limit one ticket per person.

 

Widely acknowledged for reinvigorating the American organ scene with a fresh performance style and “an unbridled joy of music-making” (Baltimore Sun), Paul Jacobs has performed on five continents and this past November reached a significant geographic milestone:  with his performance in Anchorage, Alaska, he has performed in every one of America’s 50 states. Jacobs made musical history at age 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 marathon concert in Pittsburgh.  He possesses a vast repertoire spanning from the 16th century through contemporary times and has also performed the complete organ works of Olivier Messiaen in a series of nine-hour marathons in eight U.S. cities.

 

In January, Naxos issued the digital release of Paul Jacobs’s recording of Messiaen’s magnum opus Livre du Saint Sacrement, which was recorded by him at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin in New York City and is available for download from iTunes at http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/id348056667. This September Naxos will release the recording on CD, as well. 

 

The chairman of the organ department of The Juilliard School since 2004, the 33-year-old organist 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, Pa.  Jacobs attended The Curtis Institute of Music, where he double-majored in organ with John Weaver and harpsichord with Lionel Party. He subsequently attended Yale University, where he studied with Thomas Murray and received a Master of Music degree and has since received Yale School of Music’s Distinguished Alumni Award.  Jacobs captured first prize in numerous competitions, including the 1998 Albert Schweitzer National Organ Competition and was the first organist ever to be honored with the Harvard Musical Association’s Arthur W. Foote Award.  Among other honors, Jacobs is the recipient of Juilliard’s 2007 William Schuman Scholar’s Chair.

 

Last season Jacobs gave several performances in Philadelphia:  the modern-day premiere of an unpublished prelude and fugue by Samuel Barber at Tenth Presbyterian Church, and performances of Copland’s Symphony for Organ at the Kimmel Center with Michael Tilson Thomas and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

 

Kimmel Center Presents 2009/10 Season is sponsored by Citi. American Airlines is the Official Airline of Kimmel Center Presents.

 

Free at the Kimmel programming and subsidized tickets offered to the community and social service groups for $10 are made possible through the Wachovia Gateway to the Arts Community Access Program, supported by a generous grant from the Wachovia Foundation.

 

The Kimmel Center is a recipient of partnership funding through the nationally recognized PNC “Grow Up Great” initiative, a ten-year, $100 million investment preparing children for success in school and life. Funding gives support to the Kimmel Center’s early childhood program “Bop and Swing,” an arts program for children 1-5 years old, designed to promote an appreciation for American culture.

KIMMEL CENTER PRESENTS SPONSORED BY CITI

Saturday, May 8, 2010 | 3pm
Verizon Hall, The Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ

Paul Jacobs, organ

MENDELSSOHN: Sonata in F Minor, Op. 65, No. 1
J. S. BACH: Duetto in E Minor, BWV 802; Duetto in G Major, BWV 804
NADIA BOULANGER: Prelude in F Minor
CESAR FRANCK: Final in B-flat, Op. 21
WAYNE OQUIN: Reverie

MAX REGER: Second Sonata in D Minor, Op. 60

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