Capital’s Celebration of Sound to Feature Juilliard’s Paul Jacobs and the Hugus Memorial Pipe Organ March 9
Central Ohio’s pipe organ renaissance will continue on Friday, March 9, when The Juilliard School’s Paul Jacobs leads a celebration of the sounds of Capital's Paul W. and Ella D. Hugus Memorial Pipe Organ.
Jacobs will perform at 7:30 p.m. Friday in Mees Hall, and then offer a master class at 9:30 a.m. Saturday at Christ Lutheran Church, located across from Capital at 2314 E. Main St. Both events are free and open to the public.
Considered by some to be America’s best-known concert organist, Jacobs is the organ department chair and holder of the William Schuman Scholars Chair at the prestigious New York Juilliard School at Lincoln Center.
The nation first took note of Jacobs as a concert organist in 2000 when he twice performed the complete organ works of J.S. Bach in 14 consecutive evenings, in New York City and Philadelphia. Later that year he trumped the achievement by performing the complete works again in a spectacular 18-hour non-stop marathon in Pittsburgh.
A recitalist possessing a huge repertoire, Jacobs has memorized the complete organ works of Brahms, Franck and Duruflé, much Messiaen, most of Bach, and a vast range of other organ literature. In 2002 he performed the complete organ works of Messiaen in a series of nine-hour, one-day marathons in six American cities: Chicago, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, San Francisco, Minneapolis and Seattle, and more recently has repeated the extraordinary performance in New York City. He has performed throughout the United States as well as in South America, Asia, Australia, Canada and Europe.
Crafted in 2005 by the Schantz Organ Company in Orrville, Ohio, the 70-rank Hugus Memorial Pipe Organ at Capital University has a three-manual drawknob console on a moveable platform; a one-manual portative keydesk; and 4,081 pipes. It was installed in the existing organ chambers in Mees Hall Auditorium, combining the architectural and design features of Mees Hall with the musical role of the organ.
Its inaugural season featured performances by Todd Wilson, Capital’s own Janet Linker, Alan Morrison, Douglas Cleveland and Paul Thornock.