Theater Organist Mark herman
Organ Pops Concert Featuring Alex Jones
Doors - 2:00 PM
Concert - 3:00 PM
Tickets - $17
This Fall the Detroit Theater Organ Society is proud to continue our long running Organ Pops Concert series. For decades we have presented the best theater organists around for your listening pleasure, performing live in the Senate Theater on our one-of-a-kind Mighty Wurlitzer theater pipe organ. On November 13, the talented-beyond-his-years, Alex Jones will be gracing our stage and your ears.
Originally from London, Alex is currently a candidate for the Doctor of Musical Arts Degree at the University of Houston’s Moores School of Music where he studies with Prof. Daryl Robinson and holds a Graduate Teaching Fellowship in the Musicology department. He is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY holding a Masters Degree in Organ Performance & Literature from the studio of Edoardo Bellotti. He earned his Bachelors’ Degree in Organ Performance with Honours at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire studying under Henry Fairs & Daniel Moult.
He began his career by gaining a scholarship to study at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester, UK where he also held the Junior Organ Scholarship at Manchester Cathedral. Whilst in Manchester, he appeared in concert with the Chetham’s Symphony Orchestra at The Bridgewater Hall, The Royal Northern College of Music & Selby Abbey. As an undergraduate, he was awarded the Anne & Don Smith Memorial Organ Scholarship to Town Hall & Symphony Hall, Birmingham and was awarded the William Taylor Recital Prize. He was also awarded a grant from the Birmingham Organists’ Association Leonard Gibbons Fund.
Upon relocating to the United States, he has been the recipient of numerous awards and prizes including the Third Prize at the 2022 Elizabeth B. Stephens International Organ Competition in Atlanta GA, the Second Prize at the 2017 West Chester University International Organ Competition in West Chester PA, the First Prize in the 2017 American Theatre Organ Society’s National Competition and the Third Prize in the 2018 Royal College of Organists National Competition in the UK. He has given performances of Francis Poulenc’s Concerto for Organ, Strings and Timpani as a soloist and has appeared with internationally renowned Early Music ensemble Ars Lyrica Houston at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts in Houston TX. He has also performed with Publick Musick at the University of Rochester’s Memorial Art Gallery. He appeared as a guest soloist for the 2018 Lynchburg International Organ Festival in Lynchburg, VA and was awarded the Robert Carwithen Scholarship in recognition for excellence in the field of church music.
Alex is also a professional theatre organist and has appeared as a featured artist at the 2018 & 2019 American Theatre Organ Society National Conventions in Los Angeles, CA and Rochester, NY respectively. He has toured extensively throughout New York state having given concerts at the Auditorium Theatre in Rochester, the Empire Theatre in Syracuse, the Riviera Theatre in North Tonawanda and the Forum Theatre in Binghamton. He has also appeared at the John Dickinson High School in Wilmington, DE for the Dickinson Theatre Organ Society’s 49th Anniversary Season, Grant Union High School in Sacramento, CA and the Tampa Theatre in Florida.
As a classical recitalist, he has performed around Europe making appearances in France, Germany and The Netherlands. He has also given solo recitals in major venues in London including St. Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Central Hall, St. John Smith Square and St. Stephen Walbrook, as well as having performed at Lichfield Cathedral, St. Philip’s Cathedral in Birmingham, Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge & Peterborough Cathedral. In 2014, he was invited as a guest speaker to appear at London’s Southbank Centre for the “Pulling Out The Stops” festival celebrating the re-inauguration of the famous Royal Festival Hall organ and has appeared in masterclasses with Olivier Latry, David Briggs, Wayne Marshall, Dame Gillian Weir, Bine Bryndorf & Pieter van Dijk. He is a published author, having contributed an article to the 2018 American Organ Historical Society Convention Journal.
Alex has previously held positions as Organist and Director of Music at St. Louis Catholic Church in Memphis, TN and as an assistant organist at St. George’s Episcopal Church in Germantown, TN and All Saints Episcopal Church in Tupelo, MS. He is currently the Organist & Choirmaster at Trinity Episcopal Church in Houston, TX.
We hope to see all you organ enthusiasts and organ curious folks there!
The Senate Theater and The Detroit Theater Organ Society is supported by The Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs and The National Endowment for the Arts