August 20, 2008

Acclaimed organist Martin Jean to present concert

by Andrea Hahn

Martin Jean

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- The School of Music at Southern Illinois University Carbondale welcomes acclaimed organist Martin Jean to the Marianne Webb and David N. Bateman Distinguished Organ Recital Series.

The free performance begins at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 19 at Shryock Auditorium, home of the Marianne Webb Pipe Organ.

The organ concert is the 16th in the series established in 1990 by Webb, a professor in the School of Music, and Bateman, professor emeritus from the College of Business. The concert series presents free concerts to the SIUC and Southern Illinois communities by esteemed organists. The series is possible thanks to an endowment Webb and Bateman provided in perpetuity.

The program this year includes selections from Charles Tournemire, Johann Sebastian Bach, Herbert Howells, César Franck and Julius Reubke. There is one intermission during the concert.

Jean is professor of organ at the Yale School of Music and director of the Yale Institute of Sacred Music. Other academic posts include associate professor of music and university organist at Valparaiso University and associate professor of music at Concordia College in Ann Arbor, Mich. His doctoral degree in musical arts is from the University of Michigan.

Jean’s performance credits include prestigious venues and competitive awards. He won first place at the International Grand Prix de Chartres at Chartres Cathedral in France early in his career, and toured in France, England and Luxembourg. His performances as part of a commemoration of organist and composer Louis Vierne aired on Radio France, which broadcasts throughout Western Europe. He also won first prize at the American Guild of Organists National Young Artists Competition and the University of Michigan International Organ Performance Competition. More recently, Jean presented a cycle of Bach’s complete organ works at Yale.

Jean’s music is available on recordings including “The Seven Last Words of Christ” by Charles Tournemire and the complete six symphonies of Vierne on Loft Recordings. His recordings of organ symphonies and “Stations of the Cross” by Marcel Dupré are forthcoming on the Delos label. He also recorded with the Raven and Gothic labels.

For more information about Martin Jean, including a YouTube video, go to www.concertartistscom/MJ.html.

For more information about the organ recital series, see www.lynntrapp.com/organ.html.

The concert is a U-card approved event.