Accolades for Organists

Simon Thomas Jacobs ’15 won first prize and the audience prize at the just-completed 2013 St. Albans International Organ Competition in England. He is one of a number of Oberlin organists distinguishing themselves in competitions this summer.

“Simon is an outstanding musician, and he really prepared beautifully for St. Albans,” says James David Christie, Jacobs' professor at Oberlin. Jacobs outshined a field that included numerous competition winners from top institutions around the world.

In addition to Jacobs' accolades at St. Albans, four Oberlin students were first-prize winners in their respective American Guild of Organists Regional Competitions. Those honored are Nicholas Capozzoli ’15, Alcee Chriss ’15, Jennifer McPherson ’15, and Jessica Park ’14. They will perform four of the nine "Rising Star" solo recitals at the National Convention of the American Guild of Organists in Boston in June 2014.

Other Oberlin students who excelled in their 2013 regional competitions were Jennifer Bower ’14 (winner of the St. Louis chapter competition), Jillian Gardner ’15 (winner of the Buffalo competition), Mitchell Miller ’16 (winner of the Cleveland competition), and Justin Murphy-Mancini ’13 (winner of the Springfield, Mass., competition).

Still to come this summer are a pair of competitions for Katelyn Emerson ’15, who will take part in the "Organ Without Borders 2013" International Organ Competition in Luxembourg in late August and the Mikael Tariverdiev International Organ Competition in Kaliningrad, Russia, in early September.