Past Event: Yale Sacred Music Academy presents: Organ Recital and Compline

Please join ISM professors Martin Jean and James O’Donnell for an opening organ recital that will begin at 7:30pm at Woolsey Hall, which will then travel to Christ Church New Haven at approximately 8:15pm. The recital will be followed immediately by a participant-led Compline service. 

Free and open to the public. This event is a part of the ISM's 2025 Sacred Music Academy.

Contact: Clifton Massey

Bios:

Martin Jean is director of the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, professor in music, and professor (adjunct) of divinity Professor Jean has performed widely throughout the United States and Europe and is known for his broad repertorial interests. He was awarded first place at the international Grand Prix de Chartres in 1986, and in 1992 at the National Young Artists’ Competition in Organ Performance. A student of Robert Glasgow, in the fall of 1999 he spent a sabbatical with Harald Vogel in North Germany. He has performed on four continents and in nearly all fifty states. In 2001 he presented a cycle of the complete organ works of Bach at Yale, and his compact discs of The Seven Last Words of Christ by Charles Tournemire and the complete Six Symphonies of Louis Vierne, both recorded in Woolsey Hall, have been released by Loft Recordings. Recordings of the organ symphonies and Stations of the Cross of Marcel Dupré are forthcoming on the Delos label. Professor Jean is on the board of directors of Lutheran Music Program.

B.A. Concordia College; M.M., A.Mus.D. University of Michigan

Prior to coming to Yale, James O’Donnell was the organist and master of the choristers at Westminster Abbey for twenty-three years. He is now professor in the practice of organ and sacred music at the Yale School of Music and the Yale Institute of Sacred Music.

At Westminster Abbey, James led the Abbey’s music department and oversaw all musical aspects of the Abbey’s work, including directing the celebrated Choir of Westminster Abbey. He was also responsible for the music at royal, state and national occasions, including the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on 29th April 2011, and the funeral of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother on 9th April 2002. Most recently, he led the music for the state funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Internationally recognized as a conductor and organ recitalist, James O’Donnell has performed all over the world, including the United States, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and throughout Europe. As soloist and director James O’Donnell has worked with many of Britain’s leading ensembles.

He is music director of St James’ Baroque and appears regularly with the BBC Singers. He is visiting professor of organ and of choral conducting at the Royal Academy of Music and was president of the Royal College of Organists from 2011–13. He is an honorary fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge, and Doctor of Music honoris causa of the University of Aberdeen.

Before taking up his appointment at Westminster Abbey in January 2000, James O’ Donnell was a junior exhibitioner at the Royal College of Music and then organ scholar of Jesus College, Cambridge.

His first professional appointments were at Westminster Cathedral, where he was for five years assistant and subsequently, for twelve years, master of music. Under his direction the Choir of Westminster Cathedral won the Gramophone “Record of the Year” award for its Hyperion disc of masses by Frank Martin and Pizzetti and a Royal Philharmonic Society award, both unprecedented for a cathedral choir.