Acclaimed organist Felix Hell to perform at MSO season finale May 17
In an extraordinary spring concert, under the direction of Maestro Julien Benichou, Felix Hell will perform Handel's opulent Water Music Suite No. 2, HWV 349 and Poulenc's hauntingly beautiful Concerto for Organ, Timpani, and Strings in G Minor, FP 93 with the Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra on his own custom built, three-manual Rodgers organ.
Hailed as the "most well-known young concert organist worldwide," and “undoubtedly one of the major talents of the century,” Hell "sets standards that many established and honored older players would struggle to equal."
Born in 1985 in Frankenthal/Pfalz, Germany, and starting piano lessons at 7 followed by his first organ lesson six months later, he has studied at the Hochschule für Kirchenmusik, Heidelburg, at The Juilliard School, New York, and at the Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia, where he received his bachelor of music degree at age 18, the youngest organ major to graduate from this prestigious organization.
At the age of 21, Hell received global recognition for his performances of the entire organ works of Johann Sebastian Bach, presenting roughly 250 works, totaling close to 20 hours of performance time in each of the three full cycles. He has an artist diploma degree and a master of music degree from Peabody Institute, Baltimore, and in 2009 was awarded Johns Hopkins University’s prestigious Outstanding Graduate Award. He is currently enrolled in the doctor of musical arts program at Peabody.
Hell maintains a rigorous performance schedule and has already performed more than 700 recitals throughout his native Germany, as well as Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Italy, Jamaica, Korea, Latvia, New Zealand, Norway, Malaysia, Singapore, Spain, Russia, and the U.S., where he performed more than 450 recitals in 44 states.
His discography includes eight CDs, encompassing an organ repertoire of five centuries. All his recordings have been critically acclaimed by the public and experts.
Benichou has chosen Brahms’ cheery and almost pastoral Symphony No. 2 in D Major, OP 73 to complete a season of outstanding performances by the MSO.
The season finale concert will be performed at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, May 17, at Mariner’s Bethel Church, Route 26 and Central Avenue, Ocean View. Tickets are available at the door. A free insightful and enlightening lecture about the evening’s program presented by Diane Nagorka will take place at 6:45 p.m.
Tickets are $35 for adults. A limited number of complimentary tickets are available to 18-year-olds and under, but reservations for these tickets must be made in advance. For tickets and information, call 1-888-846-8600 or go to www.midatlanticsymphony.org where the ticket order form can be downloaded by clicking on Concerts/Tickets.
The concert will also be held at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, May 15, at the Easton Church of God, 1009 N. Washington St., Easton, Md., and at 3 p.m., Sunday, May 18, at the Community Church, Racetrack Road, Ocean Pines, Md., where the preconcert lecture takes place at 2:15 p.m.
