PULLMAN, Wash. — World-renowned organist Paul Jacobs will perform an array of Christmas melodies at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 10 in Bryan Hall Theatre.
Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students. They can be purchased at all TicketsWest outlets, by phone at (800) 325-SEAT or online at www.beasley.wsu.edu.
Jacobs began to study the piano at age 6 and the organ at age 13. By age 15, he was the chief organist of a parish with more than 3,500 families.
He was discovered while performing the complete organ works of Bach in New York City and Philadelphia. A recitalist, Jacobs has memorized the complete organ works of Brahms, Franck and Duruflé, much of Messiaen and Bach, and a variety of other organ pieces.
People across the country have praised his performances. “… the music had, in Jacob’s hands (and feet), a power and majesty, a wide range of colors from celestial radiance to Stygian gloom, and a fluency and creative energy that deserved a standing-room audience,” said The Washington Post, D.C. The Glens Falls Post Star (New York) described one as “a tour de force…so brilliant it left everyone breathless. Everything Jacobs performed had a freshness and buoyancy…wizardry at the keyboards.”
The organist has received many first-place honors, including the Fort Wayne National Organ Competition (1999) and the Albert Schweitzer National Organ Competition (1998). Yale University awarded him its School of Music’s Horatio Parker Memorial Award, the Philip Francis Nelson Prize, the Dean’s Prize and the Faculty Prize of the Institute of Sacred. The Harvard Musical Association named him winner of its prestigious Arthur W. Foote Award, the first ever given to an organist.
Jacobs was recently appointed a faculty member at Julliard School in New York City, one of the youngest ever named to the distinguished faculty. He attended the Curtis Institute of Music (Philadelphia) on a full scholarship, graduating with a double major in organ and harpsichord, and earned a master’s degree from the Yale School of Music, also on a full scholarship.
For more information about the event, contact Beasley Coliseum at (509) 335-3525.
