Internationally Celebrated Organist Paul Jacobs' Extraordinary Season of Performances

Paul Jacobs, organ
Photo by Priscilla C. Scott

GRAMMY Award-winning American organist Paul Jacobs opened the Jacksonville Symphony season with a world premiere of distinguished American composer Lowell Liebermann’s Organ Concerto under the baton of music director Courtney Lewis. The concert took place September 29, 2023 at the Jacoby Symphony Hall, Jacksonville Center for the Performing Arts, and was repeated the next day. The concerto was co-commissioned by the Jacksonville Symphony and the Oregon Bach Festival.  Mr. Jacobs played on the Bryan Concert Organ, known originally as the Casavant Opus 553, which was first built in 1914 for the First Baptist Church of Syracuse in New York. The pipe organ was transported and restored in Jacksonville’s Jacoby Symphony Hall in 2005. 

Less than a week later, Mr. Jacobs flew to Los Angeles to participate in the gala celebration of Walt Disney Hall's 20th anniversary on October 5th. He performed the Allegro giocoso from Poulenc's Organ Concerto in G Minor by Francis Poulenc under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel.  This concert will be broadcast early next year on PBS's Great Performances.  

On the heels of the gala concerto, Mr. Jacobs was immediately invited back to the Los Angeles Philharmonic for a performance October 24th of Lou Harrison's Organ Concerto with Esa-Pekka Salonen.

Paul Jacobs, organ
Photo by Priscilla C. Scott

Upcoming performances include the inaugural concert November 4th of a newly created series entitled "Thornwillow Concerts at Calvary," curated by composer/pianist Lowell Liebermann.  This recital celebrates the restoration of the historic Skinner & Son pipe organ at the Calvary Presbyterian Church. The full program follows:

Johann Sebastian Bach  Sinfonia to Cantata No. 29 
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart  Fantasia in F Minor, K. 594   
Dudley Buck Concert Variations on The Star-Spangled Banner, Op. 23 
César Franck Prelude, Fugue, and Variation, Op. 18  
Alexandre Guilmant Sonata No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 42 
                                     I.  Introduction and Allegro
                                    II. Pastorale
                                   III. Finale
 
Other highlights of the season include Samuel Barber’s Toccata Festiva with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra; What Do We Make of Bach? by John Harbison with the New England Philharmonic; the Grand Concerto for Organ and Orchestra by Stephen Paulus with the Toledo Symphony; and a premiere of a new version of Michael Daugherty’s Once Upon a Castle for Organ and Orchestra with the Las Vegas Philharmonic.  Additionally, Mr. Jacobs has been invited by the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg to give a recital of Messiaen’s towering Livre du Saint Sacrément. He will be presented by the Nashville Symphony in an all-Bach solo recital.

Sammy Miller’s Playbook hopes to revitalize music education at Ridge Spring-Monetta Middle/High School

Article by Erin Weeks on OCTOBER 19, 2023. Published on postandcourier.com.

Grammy-nominated musician and creator of Playbook, Sammy Miller

Students at Ridge Spring-Monetta Middle/High School are now implementing Playbook, an online music education program created by Grammy-nominated musician Sammy Miller.

The Playbook program approaches music education as if it were like learning a new language, using a team of Grammy-nominated and Juilliard-trained mentors to guide students into becoming lifelong music makers.

Miller is from Los Angeles, and is the drummer in his jazz band, Sammy Miller and the Congregation. His first connection with Aiken came when he got to experience Joye in Aiken while he was studying at Juilliard.

“I just loved everything that was going on. I thought it was just so impactful,” said Miller.

The Playbook creator believes that those who know how to speak through music are often better communicators, friends and citizens. “The joy that music has sparked for me, I want to pass that on to people after me, to give them the tools to express themselves,” he said.

Miller recently wrote an opinion piece for the New York Times about the need to reconstruct music education. “We need to start by rethinking how we teach music from the ground up, both at home and in the classroom,” Miller wrote in the article. “Too often kids associate music in school with a difficult undertaking they can’t hope to master, which leads them to give up. Music does not have to be, and in fact, shouldn’t be, about the pursuit of perfection.”

According to Miller, many first-time music learners give up shortly after picking up their instruments. Last year, Ridge Spring-Monetta Middle School had 89 band students, compared to 29 band students in its high school. Dr. Kim Fontanez, fine arts coordinator for the Aiken public schools, said that one of the main goals in using Playbook is to keep students in band after middle school.

“As the students transitioned from middle school band to high school band, the workload became more challenging as the students had to balance sports and marching band,” she said. “We’re hoping that the platform will retain the middle school students as they enter high school.”

Ridge Spring-Monetta Band Director Jeff Clamp talked about his enthusiasm to use Playbook and the benefit he thinks it will have at a school like his, where many grade levels are enmeshed. “I’m looking forward to really getting into it,” he said. “It looks like it can be really helpful, especially in an environment like ours where students are at so many different levels.” 

Review: Jazz show features Joye talent, draws standing ovation

Review by Bill Bengtson on JUNE 23, 2023. Published on postandcourier.com.

Aspiring jazz musicians are getting a boost this week through a jazz camp being offered through Joye in Aiken, and several generations of listeners got the chance to enjoy the genre Thursday evening, taking in a concert at the USC Aiken Etherredge Center.

“This is basically our vacation home,” said drummer Bryan Carter, referring to Aiken as he prepared for a turn at the microphone. “We love it.” 

Carter and his fellow Juilliard-trained performers, whose show ended in a standing ovation, are all from the jazz camp’s faculty. The corps is also composed of Dan Chmielinski, bass; Mathis Picard, piano; Jade Elliott, saxophone; and Riley Mulherkar, trumpet. The quintet also took part in some role-switching, for a rendition of “Unforgettable,” as Carter took a turn on vocals and Mulherkar handled the drums.

The song, made famous by Nat King Cole in the early 1950s, underwent some localization of lyrics, as Carter sang, “That’s why, Aiken, it’s incredible that a place so unforgettable thinks that we are unforgettable, too.” 

Creations were by such figures as Picard (a composition that he dedicated to his mother and Madagascar, her home country), Wayne Shorter, Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Hancock and the camp crew itself. “We wrote our own blues, with the students,” Mulherkar said, in introducing one of the songs, known for the moment as “The Aiken Blues.”

Among the camp’s major sponsors were Shaw Industries and Augusta Aiken ENT. Jim and Sandra Field sponsored the concert, in memory of Jack Mullin, who died this year and was an active booster of several local charities.

His widow, Paula Mullin, was on hand for Thursday’s show. “I had a wonderful time,” she recalled. “It was really fabulous, and I can’t thank Sandra and Jim enough for doing that. It was a total surprise.” 

Sandra Field, Joye in Aiken’s board chairman, made similar comments. “The concert was fabulous, and we had just a tremendous audience response and a good-sized audience, so we were very happy with the jazz camp faculty concert.”

The camp, running June 22-25, mainly draws students from around Aiken County, but has a student from Lexington and another from Augusta on board this year., and past participants have been from as far afield as New Jersey, Field said. “It’s wide-reaching. We just have a tremendously talented faculty, and the kids are really working hard.” 

Instruction, she said, is from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., with a variety of classes through the day, with the only break being for lunch, “so it’s quite an intense day.” 

Camp participants, focusing this week on such topics as improvisation, performance, theory and history, were among the audience members for “a wonderful performance,” as described by Cody Anderson, vice president of the Joye in Aiken festival’s board of trustees.

“We are so blessed to have such great talent to be able to come to Aiken and perform not only for residents and the supporters of Joye in Aiken, but also for the students that are participating in the jazz camp,” Anderson said, noting that this year’s camp has 20 students on board. 

Plans are also in place for an Etherredge Center jazz performance Sunday, featuring camp faculty and students. Admission is free and showtime is 3 p.m.

Music Review: PAUL JACOBS, ORGAN (Six Trio Sonatas of J.S. Bach at Disney Hall)

Review by EMILIO CUENCA on MAY 2, 2023. Published on stageandcinema.com.

JACOBS’ LADDER TO HEAVEN

Courtesy of the LA Phil, the awesome organist Paul Jacobs came to Disney Hall on April 16 to delight us with a most exquisite rendition of the famous Six Trio Sonatas of J.S. Bach, BWV525-530. With a charming sense of humor, he addressed the audience with his vast knowledge, peaking our interest for what was to come. The organ console was positioned close to the audience near the front of the stage, creating the feel of an intimate recital — personal yet grand and majestic. His playing was thoughtful and true to the music: He added minimal, tasteful ornamentations while employing conventional articulations, and yet Mr. Jacobs was extraordinarily expressive. This wasn’t rock ‘n’ roll trio sonatas, but more subdued and all about the music. He let the music speak for itself, achieving a pure display of Bach’s genius. Besides his explorative and adventurous timbral changes for each movement, his beautiful dynamics took us on a tour of designer Manuel Rosales’s Hurricane Mama (aka “French Fries”), Disney Hall’s ten-octave beautifully lit pipe organ, one of the world’s greatest instruments.

Watching the blowing, bellowing majesty of that behemoth’s wood shutters swinging open and shut to amplify sound added an awesome visual component. I also heard notes from the organ that I never knew were there. He activated the Zimbelstern stop bell on the last movement of the G major sonata, his final piece, which emphasized how heavenly this music is. As an encore he chose to go full impact with the Fugue in A Minor, BWV 543 (“Since you can only follow Bach with more Bach,” he joked), during which he no longer held back. His personal flare wowed us with a daring and epic accelerando towards the finale, adding extra bass stops leading up to the foot solo. It was at this point that Jacobs allowed us to truly get the organ’s magnificent power, an act which took down the house. I loved that he was willing to give up some control to provide us with a true out of body experience only possible with the organ. When he took out all the stops, we rumbled to the core. This exciting, magical and sublime concert changed my perception of live vs. recorded music; for the first time in my life music is feeling more human and inviting. I am beginning to relate more to the human performers and feel much less separation towards them. I think this is why I also got so emotional. We died and were reborn.

On May 6, 2023, Mr. Jacobs — from Washington, Pennsylvania — is offering the same concert for free courtesy of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Tickets available at Phil Orch.

Paul Jacobs Review: For Franck’s 200th, an Organist Pays Grand Tribute

Last night, June 7, 2022, Grammy Award-winning organist Paul Jacobs closed out his César Franck Bicentennial Organ Series. The recitals, which took place at The Church of Saint Mary The Virgin, featured Mr. Jacobs performing César Franck's 12 major organ works.

Zachary Woolfe of The New York Times wrote a very positive review of the evening, calling Mr. Jacobs "one of the finest organists and teachers of our day." Read the full review here or below.

This recital series was sponsored by The American Guild of Organists. In 2021, Mr. Jacobs was the recipient of the coveted American Guild of Organists’ International Performer of the Year Award. The award is considered by many to be the highest honor given to organists by a professional musicians' guild in the United States.

Organist Paul Jacobs 2021 Intl Performer of the Year Award from American Guild of Organists

Paul Jacobs, organ

Paul Jacobs, organ

The American Guild of Organists has announced GRAMMY award-winning organist Paul Jacobs as recipient of the 2021 International Performer of the Year Award. The award is considered by many to be the highest honor given to organists by a professional musicians' guild in the United States.

The International Performer of the Year Award was created in 1978 to recognize excellence in organ performance and to increase public awareness of the organ and its performers. Robert Noehren was the first recipient of the award, which has continued for most but not all years thereafter. Past recipients include Marie-Claire Alain, Jean Guillou, and Dame Gillian Weir.

“I am deeply honored to receive this award from the American Guild of Organists,” says Mr. Jacobs. “It remains my unwavering commitment to advance the contemporary, versatile, and marvelously exciting art of organ playing, which traverses a full range of human passion and experience.”

The prize includes a sponsored recital, which is planned for 2022 in New York City, details t.b.a. For more information and a list of previous recipients, please visit here.

Festival Favorite Peter Dugan Named Permanent Host of NPR's From The Top; Charles Yang and Tessa Lark to be Co-Hosts.

Festival Favorite Peter Dugan Named Permanent Host of NPR's From The Top; Charles Yang and Tessa Lark to be Co-Hosts.

Vijay Gupta, Alex Laing, Tessa Lark, Orli Shaham and Charles Yang Comprise From the Top’s Newly Formed Team of Co-hosts & Creatives

Vijay Gupta, Alex Laing, Tessa Lark, Orli Shaham and Charles Yang Comprise From the Top’s Newly Formed Team of Co-hosts & Creatives

Boston, Massachusetts (January 23, 2020) – From the Top, America’s largest platform celebrating the voices and talents of America’s brightest young classical musicians, has named pianist Peter Dugan as permanent host for its nationally-distributed NPR radio program, beginning with the 2020-2021 season.

Original story at: https://www.fromthetop.org/from-the-top-announces-new-host-and-team-of-co-hosts-and-creatives/