Front Royal, VA—Members of the community are invited to come hear the renowned organist, Felix Hell, perform a concert on Randolph-Macon Academy’s Allen organ in John Campbell Boggs Chapel on Sunday, March 18, 2012 at 7:30 pm. The concert is part of a two-concert series that Hell is performing at Randolph-Macon in March, which will include a separate private concert for the student body and staff at the Front Royal college preparatory school.
Hell performed at Randolph-Macon four years ago, when he was 22, in the debut concert of the Academy’s Allen Renaissance Quantum™ Organ. Randolph-Macon Academy Music Director Ed Richards commented, “I would not have expected an organ concert to be popular with middle and high school students, but Felix’s performance was so wildly popular with the kids, that I even heard them suggest that we invite him back to speak at commencement!” He went on to state, “If Felix’s concerts this time are anything like when he performed here before, it will be an enlightening experience for our students, as well as anyone else who takes advantage of this opportunity to hear him perform.”
Hell has been performing concerts within Germany and abroad since the age of nine. He has performed with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, the National Academy Orchestra of Canada, the McGill Chamber Orchestra in Montreal, and the New England Conservatory Philharmonic.
According to the biography on www.felix-hell.com, Hell “took his first piano lesson at the age of seven, followed by his first organ lesson shortly after his eighth birthday. On Easter 1994, still eight years old, he performed in his first service as a liturgical organist.” In 1994, “he participated in the German competition for young musicians “Jugend musiziert,” and was awarded with two First Prizes in organ playing, following by First Prizes in 1996 (piano solo), 1997 (organ solo) and 1999 (piano solo).”
Hell has studied at The Juilliard School, New York, and at The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. He received his Bachelor of Music degree in May 2004 at the age of 18 and became the youngest Organ Major ever to graduate from Curtis. He is pursuing his graduate studies, at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, where he received his Artist Diploma in May 2007 and his Master of Music degree in 2008. In 2009, Felix Hell was awarded Johns Hopkins University’s prestigious Outstanding Graduate Award. In 2007, he was appointed as Adjunct Professor for Organ at the Sunderman Conservatory in Gettysburg, PA. 
Hell has been hailed as the “most well-known young concert organist worldwide” (Dr. John Weaver), and as “undoubtedly one of the major talents of the century” (Dr. Frederick Swann, AGO president), he “sets standards that many established and honoured older players would struggle to equal” (Michael Barone in “The American Organist”).
The concert on March 18 will be open to the public. Although tickets are not being sold, Richards said, "There is considerable expense involved in bringing in a world-renowned performer like Felix Hell to our community. While Randolph-Macon Academy is paying a large portion of the cost, in order for him to play a public performance we are asking for donations at the door, with the suggested donation being $10.
Randolph-Macon Academy, founded in 1892, is a college-preparatory, coeducational boarding and day school for students in grades 6 through 12. It is affiliated with the United Methodist Church and students in grades 9-12 participate in the Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps. R-MA is located in Front Royal, VA.