The first recital of the 2024-25 Organ Recital Series will sail to the moon and beyond.
The organist is Jacob Hofeling from the Kansas City area, a solo and collaborative player as well as director of music and liturgy at St. Mark Catholic Church, Independence, Mo., and organist at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Kansas City, Mo.
He will play Nov 12 at 7 p.m. in the Administration Building chapel.
The recital is free and open to the public.
“When I first started thinking of this program, I wanted to combine two separate elements: a historic pipe organ and modern technology,” Hofeling said.
One of the more unusual pieces on the program is Hofeling’s improvisation of an accompaniment to A Journey to the Moon (Le Voyage dans le Lune), a 1902 silent film that is one of the earliest science fiction films ever created.
“Using the idea of science fiction as a theme has been quite fascinating,” Hofeling said.
On the program is Aaron Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man” with its “connotations of heroism and pomp that often accompanies sci-fi films,” Hofeling said.
“One of those prominent films is Interstellar, a Christopher Nolan film from 2014. The score [by Hans Zimmer] features the organ throughout, and is one of the most thrilling film scores in recent history.” Hofeling will play two movements from that score.
Other pieces on the program – by Thomas Preston (16th century), Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (early 17th century), Georg Böhm (early 18th century) and Heinrich Reimann (late 19th century) – “span the breadth of Western European music history and each feature themes of space, heaven and the constellations.”
He continued, “The other interesting piece on the program is ‘Critical Mass’ by Kansas City composer James Mobberley. Written in 1989, it refers to the idea of critical mass in physics and chemistry.
“This energetic piece is played simultaneously with a recording made by the composer that features percussion, electronic sounds and other digital effects.
“This promises to be a fascinating program on Bethel’s delightful instrument.”
Originally from Arizona, Dr. Hofeling has a bachelor’s degree in organ performance from Arizona State University, where he studied under Kimberly Marshall.
He earned Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts (organ) degrees from the University of Kansas, where he was a student of James Higdon and Michael Bauer.
Dr. Hofeling also has a master’s degree in music theory from KU, focusing on the complex rhythmic structures in the organ music of Jean-Louis Florentz. He studied at the Hochschule für Künste in Bremen, Germany, under Edoardo Bellotti.
He recently served as interim professor of organ at Washburn University in Topeka.
As a solo recitalist, he has performed concerts in Kansas City, Salt Lake City, Gold Canyon, Ariz., and several venues in western Kansas.
In Salt Lake City, he was a guest recitalist on the historic Tabernacle Organ in Temple Square, and he plays frequently at the Community of Christ Temple in Independence, Mo., where he holds the title of staff organist.
Dr. Hofeling is a member of the organ committee for the National Federation of Music Clubs, tasked with selecting the organ repertoire for the next four years of Federation competitions.
This past May, he had the honor of playing with the Kansas City Symphony on the Julia Irene Kauffman Organ.
His performances have been heard on radio station KBAQ in Phoenix and on Kansas Public Radio.
He is the dean of the Greater Kansas City chapter of the American Guild of Organists.
Bethel is a four-year liberal arts college founded in 1887 and is the oldest Mennonite college in North America. Bethel was the first Kansas college or university to be named a Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation (TRHT) Campus Center, in 2021. For more information, see https://www.bethelks.edu
