James Kibbie

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James Kibbie (born March 13, 1949) is an American concert organist, recording artist and pedagogue.

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Biography

Kibbie was born in 1949 in Vinton, Iowa, USA. He graduated from Davenport West High School in 1967. [1] He holds the Bachelor of Music in Organ Performance from North Texas State University (Magna cum laude, 1971), the Master of Music in Organ Performance from North Texas State University (1972), and the Doctor of Musical Arts in Organ Performance from the University of Michigan (1981). He won the International Organ Competition of the Prague Spring Festival in the former Czechoslovakia in 1979 [2] and the Grand Prix d'Intérpretation at the International Organ Competition "Grand Prix de Chartres" in France in 1980. [3] He is professor emeritus of Organ at the University of Michigan, where his 42-year tenure included service as University Organist and Chair of the Organ Department. The University of Michigan has endowed the James Kibbie Scholarship in perpetuity to support students majoring in organ and sacred music. [4]

Performing career

Kibbie has presented recitals, masterclasses and workshops throughout North America and Europe, including appearances at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, Royal Festival Hall in London, Dvořák Hall in the Rudolfinum in Prague and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York. His performances have been broadcast on radio [5] and television in the US, Canada and Europe. His recordings have been issued on a variety of labels in North American and Europe (see Discography). Since 2002 he has released annual holiday recordings on the seven-stop Létourneau mechanical-action organ in his home. [6]

Complete organ works of J.S. Bach

Kibbie performed the complete organ works of Johann Sebastian Bach in a series of 18 recitals at the University of Michigan in 2000 and again in 2022–23. [7] From 2007 to 2009 he recorded the complete works on seven historic baroque organs in Germany built by Gottfried Silbermann, Arp Schnitger and Behrendt Huß, Tobias Heinrich Gottfried Trost, Erasmus Bielfeldt, and Zacharias Hildebrandt, with the addition of four more recently authenticated Bach works recorded in 2016. With support from Dr. Barbara Furin Sloat, the University of Michigan maintains a website providing free downloads of the recordings in MP3, AAC and full uncompressed audio formats. [8]

Organ performance and data science

James Kibbie and Daniel Forger, Professor of Mathematics and Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics at the University of Michigan, led a research team investigating how data science can be employed to analyze and understand issues of musical performance. Doctoral students Sarah Simko (Organ Performance) and Caleb Mayer (Mathematics) served as research assistants for the project. The first phase, funded by a grant from the Michigan Institute for Data Science (MIDAS), developed a library of digitized performances of Johann Sebastian Bach's Trio Sonatas for organ by University of Michigan faculty and students on a variety of pipe organs. The research team then developed and applied data science algorithms to analyze performance-related issues, including comparing different performances to determine features that make performances artistic, as well as the common mistakes performers make. The digitized performances will be shared with other researchers with the goal of enabling research and pedagogy in disciplines including data science, music performance, mathematics and music psychology. [9] Other elements of the project included seminars taught by Kibbie and Forger, a study tour for University of Michigan students to historic organs in the Netherlands and Germany, and the university's 59th Annual Organ Conference, "Building Bach: His Foundations and Futures." [10]

Discography

Notes

  1. Jensen, Marcia (September 16, 2013). "Davenport West High School to Present Three Alumni With Hall of Honor Awards". River Cities' Reader. Archived from the original on November 4, 2013. Retrieved October 6, 2013.
  2. "Ve znamení života a míru". Komunistické strany československa. May 13, 1979.
  3. "Le Concours d'orgue de Chartres: un très bon cru". Le Monde. September 24, 1980.
  4. "Biography, University of Michigan website". smtd.umich.edu. Retrieved June 19, 2023.
  5. "Alain Alone". Pipedreams. American Public Media. May 21, 1990. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  6. "Biography, University of Michigan website". smtd.umich.edu. Retrieved June 19, 2023.
  7. Bleilor, Jeff (March 27, 2023). "Organ professor James Kibbie gives Bach to U-M". The University Record. Retrieved June 19, 2023.
  8. "James Kibbie – Bach Organ Works". Block M Records. 2010. Retrieved June 19, 2023.
  9. Taylor, Melanie (2019), "University researchers examine how data science can interpret music", The Michigan Daily, vol. 128, no. 96
  10. Grantier, Brooks (2020), "Building Bach: His Foundations and Futures", The Diapason, no. February

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