Organist Paul Jacobs to Perform at the Winter Center, 5/10

Grammy Award-winning concert organist Paul Jacobs performs Camille Saint-Saens's Symphony No. 3 with the Millersville University Orchestra conducted by Dr. Vera Volchansky. This evening will conclude the celebration of the opening of the Winter Visual and Performing Arts Center, and is dedicated to celebrating the newly-installed Walker Organ.

Jacobs made musical history at the age of 23 when he played J.S. Bach's complete organ works in an 18-hour marathon performance on the 250th anniversary of the composer's death. Jacobs' recording of Messiaen's Livre du Saint Sacrement, released by Naxos in September 2010, was awarded the Best Solo Instrumental Grammy of the Year the first time a disc of solo organ music has ever received this honor.

Described by the Chicago Tribune as "one of the most supremely gifted organists of his generation," Jacobs unites technical skills of the first order with probing emotional artistry.

Paul Jacobs has been a featured soloist with the Phoenix Symphony (for a week of performances featuring the world premiere of Stephen Paulus' Organ Concerto and the Saint-Saïns Organ Symphony), the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, the New World Symphony in Miami and the Seattle Symphony, and the Cincinnati Symphony (for the orchestra's acclaimed May Festival).

He performed as part of Lincoln Center's White Light Festival, in a sold-out concert that served as the official re-inauguration of Alice Tully Hall's restored Kuhn organ. He joined Michael Tilson Thomas for performances of Copland's Organ Symphony with both the Chicago and San Francisco Symphony Orchestras. His San Francisco Symphony performance of the Copland Organ Symphony was recorded and released on the SFSO label. He has recently reached the milestone of having performed in each of the fifty United States.

Jacobs has appeared all over the world, notably Edmonton, Canada; London's Westminster Cathedral for the 2012 Grand Organ Festival and the Lucerne Festival in Switzerland;

Prodigiously talented from his earliest years, at 15, Jacobs was appointed head organist of a parish of 3,500 in his hometown, Washington, PA. He studied at the Curtis Institute of Music, double-majoring with John Weaver for the organ and Lionel Party for the harpsichord, and at Yale University with Thomas Murray. He joined the faculty of The Juilliard School in 2003, and was named chairman of the organ department in 2004, one of the youngest faculty appointees in the school's history. He received Juilliard's prestigious William Schuman Scholar's Chair in 2007.

In addition to his concert and teaching appearances, Jacobs is a frequent performer at festivals across the world, and has appeared on American Public Media's Pipedreams, Performance Today and Saint Paul Sunday, as well as NPR's Morning Edition, and ABC-TV's World News Tonight.

The performance takes place at the Winter Center, 60 Cottage Avenue, Millersville, PA. Parking is FREE.

Tickets: $10 for Adults, FREE for Students, with I.D. Tickets may be purchased by calling the Ticket Office at 717-872-3811 or 717-871-2308. Online, at www.millersville.edu/MUARTS. In person, at The Ware Center Box Office (42 N. Prince St., Lancaster) or the Student Memorial Center Ticket Office (Room 103 on the MU campus). Ticket Offices are open Mon-Fri, 8 AM - 4:30 PM. Advance reservations are strongly encouraged. The last three Jazz in the Sky performances have sold-out.

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