October 31, 2014
ORGANIST PAUL JACOBS TO CURATE HISTORIC ALL-DAY BACH CONCERT FEATURING
CURRENT JUILLIARD ORGANISTS AND ALUMNI AT SAINT PETER’S CHURCH IN NYC
Saturday, November 22, 2014 at 7 a.m. through Sunday, November 23 at 1 a.m.
18-hour event marks the first time in NYC that Bach’s complete solo organ works
are performed in one sitting
Mr. Jacobs performs along with 19 current and former students
NEW YORK –– Organist Paul Jacobs, chair of Juilliard’s Organ Department, will curate an 18-hour all-Bach concert with 19 current Juilliard organists and alumni at Saint Peter’s Church, 619 Lexington Avenue at 54th Street, NYC, on Saturday, November 22, 2014. This will be the first time in NYC that the complete solo organ works by Bach will be performed in one sitting. The program starts at 7 a.m. and ends the following day, Sunday, November 23, 2014 at 1 a.m. Paul Jacobs will be performing at 8 p.m. The event is part of WQXR’s Bachstock: 30 Days of Peace and Music. Tickets are available at www.wqxr.org/events at several levels: 75-minute slots ($10 each); a half-day pass ($40); or for the truly hardcore organ enthusiast, a full-day pass ($75).
During the November marathon, Mr. Jacobs will speak at intervals throughout the day and offer insights into Bach as composer and organist; performance considerations, including those related to the Saint Peter’s Church organ; and the instrument’s past.
Paul Jacobs has performed the entire organ works of Bach several times, including by himself, in an 18-hour marathon in Pittsburgh in 2000. For this performance, he had the herculean task of organizing all of the programs and players. He remarked: “It is gratifying to watch the organ’s role being expanded beyond its traditional limits, permitting many young players of the instrument to make successful careers as concert soloists with orchestras and in recital, and in other creative ways.”
Mr. Jacobs added: “To define the format and structure of such a vast musical marathon has required weeks of careful consideration. Bach possessed a sustained interest in both organ playing and construction throughout his entire life. He left us some 200 organ works—some brief, others extensive—in every genre known to him. In organizing such an event, I used the model of my own marathon performances of his complete organ works, dividing the cycle into 14 self-contained programs. Most of the programs are about 70-75 minutes, each one complete and satisfying, offering a sampling of the infinite variety and genius of Bach. It is pleasure to be able to share this historic occasion with some of my current and recent Juilliard students.”
WQXR 105.9 FM, New York City’s only all-classical music station, is presenting the event.
For more information, visit: http://www.wqxr.org/#!/story/wqxr-bach-organ-marathon/.
About Paul Jacobs
An eloquent champion of the organ and someone who has argued that the instrument for far too long has been excluded from the mainstream of classical music, Paul Jacobs is known for his imaginative interpretations and charismatic stage presence. He has also been an important influence in the revival of symphonic music featuring the organ. The first and only organist ever to have won a Grammy® Award (in 2011 for Messiaen’s challenging Livre du Saint-Sacrement), Mr. Jacobs combines a probing intellect and extraordinary technical skills with a repertoire that spans the gamut of music written for the instrument, both old and new. He has transfixed audiences, colleagues, and critics with landmark performances of the complete works for solo organ by J.S. Bach and Messiaen, as well as a vast array of other composers. A fierce advocate of new music, he has premiered the works of Samuel Adler, Mason Bates, Michael Daugherty, Wayne Oquin, Stephen Paulus, and Christopher Theofanidis, among others.
This fall 2014, Mr. Jacobs will perform Poulenc’s Organ Concerto with the National Symphony Orchestra at The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and will appear with The Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, where he is scheduled to play Guilmant’s First Organ Symphony. In October 2014, he joined the Pacific Symphony for a weekend of performances of Duruflé’s Requiem. Other orchestral engagements include the Edmonton, Phoenix, and the Dallas symphony orchestras. He will appear in recital in Pittsburgh, PA; Chicago, IL; and at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, among other places. Mr. Jacobs will make an appearance in the U.K. to perform recitals at Birmingham’s Symphony and Town Halls in June 2015. His recording of solo organ works by Bach, Reger, and Nadia Boulanger, and a recording of songs by Handel, Franck, Gounod, Puccini, Lili Boulanger, and Wolf/Reger with soprano Christine Brewer will be released later this season.
Mr. Jacobs made musical history at the age of 23 when he played J.S. Bach’s complete organ works in an 18-hour marathon performance on the 250th anniversary of the composer’s death. He has also performed the complete organ works of Olivier Messiaen in marathon performances throughout
North America, and recently reached the milestone of having performed in each of the 50 United States.
Paul Jacobs joined the faculty of Juilliard in 2003 and was named chairman of the Organ Department in 2004, one of the youngest faculty appointees in the School’s history. He received Juilliard’s prestigious William Schuman Scholar’s Chair in 2007. A native of Washington, Pennsylvania, Mr. Jacobs studied at the Curtis Institute of Music, double-majoring with John Weaver for the organ and Lionel Party for the harpsichord, and at Yale University with Thomas Murray.
About The Juilliard School
The Juilliard School established this country’s standard for education in the performing arts, beginning with music in 1905. Its alumni are among the most famous recitalists, orchestral and operatic musicians, administrators, and teachers. In 1951, its Dance Division was established, combining contemporary and ballet technique. Its accomplished alumni also include many of today’s celebrated choreographers. Juilliard became part of Lincoln Center in 1968, and added a four-year drama program. Jazz performance was initiated in 2001 and Historical Performance in 2009. Most recently, Juilliard expanded its acting education to include a master’s degree program whose first class entered in fall 2012. In 2009, Juilliard inaugurated its partnership with the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program; and also collaborates with Carnegie Hall, founding The Academy, a program of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and the Weill Music Institute in partnership with the New York City Department of Education, and Ensemble ACJW; Signature Theatre – for Juilliard Drama’s ‘Professional Studio’; the New York Philharmonic, whose Music Director Alan Gilbert also is Juilliard’s Director of Conducting and Orchestral Studies; Jazz at Lincoln Center; and Connections Education, instrumental in developing Juilliard eLearning, the School’s first online courses for K-12. Currently more than 800 young artists from 44 states and 41 foreign countries attend Juilliard. For more information, visit Juilliard’s website at www.juilliard.edu.
Paul Jacobs at the Holtkamp Organ in Juilliard’s Paul Hall (Photo by Justin Astafanous)
PROGRAM LISTING:
Saturday, November 22, 2014 through Sunday, November 23, 2014
Paul Jacobs and 19 Current Students and Alumni of Juilliard’s Organ Department
Saint Peter’s Church, 619 Lexington Avenue at 54th Street, NYC
Event part of WQXR’s Bachstock: 30 Days of Peace and Music
7:00 a.m. David Crean
8:15 a.m. James Wetzel
9:30 a.m. Raymond Nagem
10:45 a.m. Janet Yieh, Colin MacKnight, Yinying Luo
12:00 p.m. Chelsea Chen
1:15 p.m. Ryan Jackson
2:30 p.m. Benjamin Sheen
4:15 p.m. Daniel Ficarri, Griffin McMahon, David Ball
5:30 p.m. Isabelle Demers
6:45 p.m. David Enlow
8:00 p.m. Paul Jacobs
9:15 p.m. Christopher Houlihan
10:30 p.m. Michael Hey
11:45 p.m. Ryan Kennedy, Alexander Pattavina, Gregory Zelek
Tickets are available at www.wqxr.org/events at several levels: 75-minute slots ($10 each); a half-day pass ($40); or for the truly hardcare organ enthusiast, a full-day pass ($75).
