The young church musician Niklas Jahn will be the new organist of Dresden's Frauenkirche. The 27-year-old impressed in the final of the application process with his outstanding improvisational skills and conceptual ideas for the meeting place, as the Frauenkirche Foundation announced on Wednesday. He will take up his post in December 2024 with a focus on organ music.
There were a total of 29 applications for the prominent position as successor to the first organist after the consecration of the famous church, which was rebuilt from war ruins and with donations from all over the world. The previous organist had been dismissed in 2022 due to irregularities.
Jahn had impressed with his "extraordinary skills" in the field of organ improvisation, which were "decisive" for the diverse services in the Frauenkirche, said the head of the selection committee, Landeskirchenmusikdirektor Markus Leidenberger. With his "undisguised view of a young musician, building new bridges from tradition to the present will be an enrichment for the church music life of this place", added foundation director Maria Noth and Frauenkirche pastor Markus Engelhardt.
The freelance concert organist Jahn comes from Fulda in Hesse. He studied church music, organ improvisation and choir conducting in Mainz and Freiburg, where he also gained his first practical experience. He has won prizes at renowned organ competitions, is internationally active as a soloist and is looking forward to his new role.
It is "an honor to be able to work in this historic place", he said according to the press release. He was impressed by the Kern organ and "fascinated by the baroque design language of the church interior", he said, describing his first visit. "Now I can hardly wait to develop my artistic creativity here in the near future."
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