For Immediate Release
Media contacts:
Jane Turnis
(719) 389-6138
JTurnis@ColoradoCollege.edu
Leslie Weddell
(719) 389-6038
Leslie.Weddell@ColoradoCollege.edu
“NEXT GREAT AMERICAN ORGANIST” TO PLAY
IN CC’S DISTINGUISHED ORGANIST SERIES
Renowned organist Paul Jacobs to play in Shove Memorial Chapel
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Nov. 9, 2006 – Prominent American organist
Paul Jacobs will perform the 27th concert in the Colorado College Distinguished
Organist Series at 7:30 p.m., Nov. 14 in Shove Memorial Chapel, 1010 N. Nevada
Ave. 
The
event is free and open to the public. A reception will follow the performance.
Jacobs made musical history at age 23, when on the 250th anniversary of the death of J.S. Bach in 2000, he performed the composer’s complete organ music in an 18-hour, non-stop marathon in Pittsburgh. He later performed the complete organ works of Oliver Messiaen in a series of nine-hour, one-day marathons in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington D.C., Chicago and New York.
Jacobs will play works by J.S. Bach, Duruflé, Weaver, Franck and Reger on the historic Shove Memorial Chapel pipe organ. Jacobs was hailed by the Chicago Tribune as “one of the most supremely gifted young artists of his generation,” and by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel as “the next great American organist.” The Wall Street Journal said Jacobs’ prominence at a relatively young age can be attributed to his natural ability to communicate with his audiences and his “charismatic showmanship and unflagging exuberance.”
Jacobs was named head of the organ department at New York’s Julliard School in 2004 at the age of 26, becoming one of the youngest faculty members in the prestigious conservatory’s history. In addition to teaching, Jacobs tours extensively, giving recitals and master classes in cities throughout the U.S. and Canada. He is a graduate of Yale University.
The Distinguished Organist Series brings some of the world’s finest organists to the Colorado Springs community. There are two to three concerts a year, and past performers have included Peter Richard Conte, James Diaz and Haskell Thompson.
The Shove Memorial Chapel pipe organ was built by the Welte-Tripp Organ Company of South Beach, Conn., in 1931 and was recently selected by the Organ Historical Society as “an instrument of exceptional historic merit worthy of preservation.” The organ, which weighs 40,000 pounds and includes 3,065 pipes of various sizes, is a concert organ, capable of reproducing all the music of a symphony orchestra, with the exception of drums.
For information, directions or disability accommodation at the event, members of the public may call (719) 389-6607.
About Colorado College
Colorado College is a nationally prominent, four-year liberal arts and sciences
college that was founded in Colorado Springs in 1874. The college operates on
the innovative Block Plan, in which its 1,945 students study one course at a
time in intensive 3½-week blocks. For more information, visit www.ColoradoCollege.edu
http://www.ColoradoCollege.edu