Organist Paul Jacobs to Opens 20th Anniversary Season Of Overture Concert Organ in Madison

GRAMMY Award-winning American organist Paul Jacobs will be presented by Madison Symphony Orchestra in a solo organ recital at Overture Center for the Arts (201 State St, Madison, WI 53703), on Thursday evening, October 3, 2024, at 7:30 pm EDT.

Mr. Jacobs' recital will open the celebration of the 20th anniversary season of the Overture Concert Organ at Overture Center. Greg Zelek, Principal Organist, Curator of the Overture Concert Organ, and a former student of Mr. Jacobs', said, "You won't want to miss Mr. Jacobs's incredible technique and artistry that will be on full display in our kickoff to this celebratory season!" This recital will feature a program showcasing of some of the most famous organ repertoires and included works by Bach, Ives, and Liszt. The full program follows:

Felix Mendelssohn Organ Sonata No.1 in F minor, Op. 65, No.1

Cesár Franck Prelude, Fugue, and Variation, Op.18

Charles Ives Variation on "America"

Johann Sebastian Bach Arioso from Cantata No. 156

Franz Liszt Fantasy and Fugue on the chorale "Ad nos, ad salutarem undam"

Commissioned by the Madison Symphony Orchestra in July 2001, the Overture Concert Organ was designed and built by the German firm of Orgelbau Klais. It consists of 63 stops, 72 ranks and 4,040 pipes, the tallest of which is 32 feet and the heaviest weighing in at more than 1,200 pounds.

Single tickets from $25 to $40 are available for purchase only through the Overture Center Box Office. For more information please visit organist Paul Jacobs' website and Madison Symphony Orchestra's website, or contact the Overture Center Box Office at (608) 258-4141.

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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