Award-winning organist Paul Jacobs at Stambaugh

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Acclaimed organist Paul Jacobs will perform at 4 p.m. Sunday afternoon at Stambaugh Auditorium, 1000 Fifth Ave. His concert will feature works by Bach, Schumann, Stanley, Boulanger, Elgar, Mozart and Guilmant.

Described by The Chicago Tribune as “one of the most supremely gifted organists of his generation,” the Grammy award-winning Jacobs blends technical skills with emotional artistry.

In the 2012-13 season, Jacobs returned to the San Francisco Symphony for a solo performance of Bach’s Clavier-Ubung III, complete with choral interludes.

He joined Michael Christie and the Phoenix Symphony for a week of performances featuring the world premiere of Stephen Paulus’ Organ Concerto and the Saint-Saens Organ Symphony.

He also performed the Saint-Saens during a week with the Pacific Symphony Orchestra.

Internationally, Jacobs appeared at London’s Westminster Cathedral for the 2012 Grand Organ Festival.

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.

Jacobs made musical history at age 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.

He also has performed the complete organ works of Olivier Messiaen in marathon performances throughout North America, and recently reached the milestone of having performed in each of the 50 states.

Prodigiously talented from his earliest years, Jacobs was appointed head organist of a parish of 3,500 in his hometown of Washington, Pa., at age 15. 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.