Organist Paul Jacob To Return To Philadelphia Orchestra As Soloist For Three Concerts

GRAMMY Award-winning American organist Paul Jacobs will return to the Philadelphia Orchestra led by Daniele Rustioni for two concerts on Friday afternoon, January 31, 2025 at 2 pm EST, and on Saturday evening, February 1, 2025 at 8 pm, EST, at Marian Anderson Hall.

Mr. Jacobs will appear as soloist with the orchestra in Casella's Concerto romano, for organ, brass, timpani, and strings and Holst's iconic The Planets. The full program follows:

Maurice Ravel Alborada del gracioso

Aldredo Casella Concerto romano, for organ, brass, timpani, and strings

Gustav Holst The Planets

The Philadelphia Orchestra is also presenting Mr. Jacobs in a 60-miniute solo organ recital on Saturday afternoon, February 1, 2025, 5 p.m. at Marian Anderson Hall at 5 pm. Here are the program details:

Felix Mendelssohn Sonata No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 65

Cesar Franck Prelude, Fugue, Variation, Op. 18

Charles Ives Variations on "America"

J.S. Bach Arioso from Cantata, BWV 156

J.S. Bach Prelude and Fugue in D Major, BWV 532

General admission tickets from $25 to $196 for the January 31 concert, and $30 to $200 for the February 1 concert are available for purchase through the Philadelphia Orchestra's website. 

The internationally celebrated organist Paul Jacobs combines a probing intellect and extraordinary technical mastery with an unusually large repertoire, both old and new. Mr. Jacobs has been heralded as "one of the major musicians of our time" by Alex Ross of The New Yorker and as "America's leading organ performer" by The Economist. No other organist is so frequently re-invited as soloist to perform with prestigious orchestras, thus making him a leading pioneer in the movement for the revival of symphonic music featuring the organ.

During the 2023-2024 season Mr. Jacobs gave the world premiere of Lowell Liebermann's Organ Concerto co-commissioned by the Jacksonville Symphony and the Oregon Bach Festival and was invited to perform with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel as part of the gala celebrating the 20th anniversary of Walt Disney Hall. The LA concert will be broadcast on PBS's Great Performances early next year. He was also invited back to the Los Angeles Philharmonic for a performance of Lou Harrison's Organ Concerto with Esa-Pekka Salonen. Mr. Jacobs played Samuel Barber's Toccata Festiva with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra; What Do We Make of Bach? by John Harbison with the New England Philharmonic; appeared as soloist with the Toledo Symphony in the Grand Concerto for Organ and Orchestra by Stephen Paulus; and premiered a new version of Michael Daugherty's Once Upon a Castle for Organ and Orchestra with the Las Vegas Philharmonic. One would be hard pressed to find any other musician performing six modern or contemporary concertos in one year.

In recital, Mr. Jacobs presented an all-Bach program under the aegis of the Nashville Symphony. He was invited to perform Messiaen's towering Livre du Saint Sacrament in Hamburg; the 2000 audience members at the prestigious Elbphilharmonie were spellbound.

An eloquent champion of his instrument, Mr. Jacobs is known for his imaginative interpretations and charismatic stage presence. Mr. Jacobs is the only organist ever to have won a GRAMMY Award-in 2011 for Messiaen's Livre du Saint-Sacrament. Having performed to great critical acclaim on five continents and in each of the fifty United States, Mr. Jacobs regularly appears with the Chicago Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Edmonton Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Montreal Symphony, Nashville Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, Pacific Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Toledo Symphony, and Utah Symphony, among others. Mr. Jacobs is also Founding Director of the Oregon Bach Festival Organ Institute, a position he assumed ten seasons ago.

Mr. Jacobs has moved audiences, colleagues, and critics alike with landmark performances of the complete works for solo organ by J.S. Bach and Messiaen, as well as works by a vast array of other composers. He made musical history at the age of 23 when he played Bach's complete organ works in an 18-hour marathon performance on the 250th anniversary of the composer's death. A fierce advocate of new music, Mr. Jacobs has premiered works by Samuel Adler, Mason Bates, Michael Daugherty, Bernd Richard Deutsch, John Harbison, Lowell Liebermann, Wayne Oquin, Stephen Paulus, Christopher Rouse, and Christopher Theofanidis, among others. As a teacher he has also been a vocal proponent of the redeeming nature of traditional and contemporary classical music.

Past recital engagements have included performances under the aegis of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Cleveland Orchestra, Dallas Symphony, Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center White Light Festival, Los Angeles Philharmonic at Disney Hall, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Phoenix Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Oregon Bach Festival, San Francisco Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Warsaw Philharmonic, Spivey Hall in Atlanta, the St. Louis Cathedral-Basilica, Bach Festival Society of Winter Park, as well as at the American Guild of Organists.

He has given the world premiere of Christopher Rouse's Organ Concerto with the Philadelphia Orchestra-co-commissioned by the National Symphony and the Los Angeles Philharmonic-and, with the Toledo Symphony, has performed Michael Daugherty's Once Upon a Castle, a work he recorded in 2015 with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra and conductor Giancarlo Guerrero which was released by Naxos in September 2016, and awarded three GRAMMYs, including Best Classical Compendium.

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