Francis Jacob


Francis Jacob is a French organist and harpsichordist.

Biography

Born in Saverne, Jacob started playing the organ at a young age. He was only thirteen when he replaced the organist from Saessolsheim, who had fallen ill. He studied the organ with Sylvain Ciaravolo and André Stricker in Strasbourg and with Jean Boyer in Lyon. He studied the harpsichord with Aline Zylberajch in Strasbourg and with Jan-Willem Jansen in Toulouse, as well as basso continuo with Martin Gester in Strasbourg and with Jesper Christensen in Basel.
Jacob has taught organ and harpsichord at the Conservatoire de Perpignan, the Conservatoire de Toulouse and the Conservatoire de Montauban. Since 2001 he has been an organ and basso continuo teacher at the Conservatoire de Strasbourg.
He performs as soloist on organ and harpsichord, and in the chamber and orchestral music, particularly with the Ricercar Consort, the Concert Royal, Gli Angeli, and other ensembles.
He is very interested in organ building, which he practises with Bernard Aubertin in Courtefontaine.
He is still the organist of Saessolsheim, where he succeeded, with the help of the Saessolsheim Organ Friends’ Association, in enriching the church with a new Aubertin organ, which energised the cultural life of the village.

Selected discography

As soloist

All CDs in this section were recorded on Aubertin organs.
He has recorded CDs with Le Parlement de Musique and the Ricercar Consort, among others. On some of the first ten CDs mentioned below, which he recorded with the Ricercar Consort under the direction of Philippe Pierlot, he also plays works by J.S. Bach as organ soloist.