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Artist Spotlight: Felix Hell

Rodgers Instruments proudly features Felix Hell as our Artist Spotlight for this issue of “65 Stories Celebrating 65 Years.” He has performed many concerts on Rodgers organs, including a concert for the public and a Rodgers dealer meeting held at Rose City Park UMC in Portland, that features an outstanding Rodgers Infinity 484 hybrid organ.

A native of Germany, Felix Hell is one of the most sought-after concert organists in the world. He has been featured as a recitalist and concerto soloist in over 1,000 concerts throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. The American Organist raved that he “sets standards that older and honored players would struggle to equal.”

 

Felix Hell’s discography includes twelve CDs. His most recent recording, titled "Poetic Visions," features romantic organ music by German composers. It was recorded on the historic 1902 E.F. Walcker Organ in Lüdenscheid, Germany and includes works by Reger, Mendelssohn, Rheinberger, Brahms and Liszt. His recordings are frequently broadcast throughout the United States and across the world; he has appeared on television globally.

 

 

Frequently he posts delightful brief informative videos on social media such as FaceBook.

Felix Hell is known for his diverse and innovative programming, drawing upon a repertoire encompassing five centuries. Furthermore, he has received global recognition for his marathon performances of the entire organ works of J.S. Bach, which encompass about 250 compositions and close to 20 hours of performance time. He has since performed the complete Bach cycle four times, most recently in 2013 in Seoul, Korea.

 Mr. Hell is an avid supporter of new music for organ and frequently collaborates with composers.

 Felix Hell studied at the Juilliard School in New York, the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia (BM), and the Peabody Institute in Baltimore (AD, MM, DMA). In 2007, he received Johns Hopkins University’s prestigious Outstanding Graduate Award.

 Dr. Hell holds positions of Organ Artist Associate at Saint Peter’s Lutheran Church in Manhattan, New York; Distinguished Artist in Residence at the United Lutheran Seminary in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania; and Adjunct Professor of Organ at the Sunderman Conservatory in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. In 2011, Felix Hell was appointed Distinguished Visiting Artist at Kosin University in Busan, South Korea.

 

Felix Hell and Rodgers Organs

 

We are grateful for his friendship with Rodgers and his many concerts on Rodgers organs.  Felix Hell also served as a judge for the 2015 Rodgers North American Organ Competition.

In addition to performing on the world's greatest pipe organs, Felix Hell has been concertizing with his portable Touring Organ throughout North America, contributing to the liberation of organ music from its historic confines and presenting it in spaces that have no house pipe organs. ​His Touring Organ is an Infinity Series 361 instrument custom-built by Rodgers Instruments.

Felix Hell has performed as soloist with orchestras throughout the United States and Canada, introducing the great music and the grandeur of the organ to audiences that otherwise may have never experienced it. 

 

For more information about Felix Hell, including his concert schedule and to order his recordings, please visit his website: https://www.felixhell.com/

You are also invited to visit Felix Hell’s YouTube channel with many performance, educational, and narrative videos: https://www.youtube.com/@felixhell.organist/videos