James D. Hicks
Biography
James D. Hicks lives and works out of Califon, NJ, USA. He holds degrees in music from the Peabody Institute of Music of Johns Hopkins University, Yale University, and the University of Cincinnati. Other studies include courses at the Royal School of Church Music in England. He is an Associate of the American Guild of Organists.
Hicks was Director of Music at The Presbyterian Church, Morristown, NJ from 1985–2011, where he conducted many of the church's ensembles, administered the concert series, and served as organist.
Jim has appeared as a concert organist throughout the United States, Europe, New Zealand, and Australia. Over the past 20 years, he has made 16 recordings on the Pro Organo label. The first, American Classic Fantastic, was recorded at the Presbyterian Church in Morristown, NJ in 2003, and demonstrates the extensive rebuild of that instrument from the 1990s, a project that Hicks oversaw. This disc features several world premiere recordings of twentieth and twenty-first-century American repertoire, including two original works. The National Public Media program Pipedreams, hosted by Michael Barone, has broadcast several of the tracks from American Classic Fantastic, and it has received considerable notice in the media.
Over the past 15 years, Jim has intensively researched a relatively unknown and unexplored corner of the organ repertoire: the music of Nordic countries. The series is called Nordic Journey and is now an ongoing endeavor. The series seeks to commission new works from some of the leading composers from northern Europe (over 65 commissioned works thus far), discover unpublished and, hitherto, unknown works from previous eras, highlight compositions that have never been recorded, as well as celebrating a few of the standard masterpieces of the Nordic school.
The original Nordic Journey was a two-cd release, recorded in January 2010 on the historic Setterquist organ at Linköping Cathedral, Linköping, Sweden. The program features the series' first commissioned work, Variations for Organ, by Swedish composer Fredrik Sixten. The program mixes a more standard repertoire with many works that have never been recorded, including Sixten's modern-day masterpiece, Messa Misteriosa. Pro Organo released Nordic Journey in June 2010.
In the summer of 2013, Jim traveled to Sweden for the purpose of adding three more volumes to the Nordic Journey series. Volume II, entitled The Nordic Symphonic Tradition, was recorded on the magnificent Äkerman & Lund organ at St. Johannes Church, Malmö, Sweden. This disc is devoted to works of the late-romantic era and is notable for the world premiere recordings of unpublished works by Finnish composer Viljo Mikkola and the Swedish musician Erik Alvin.
Volume III is entitled Swedish Folkways and Classic Traditions and juxtaposes twentieth century works written in a neo-classic style with compositions informed by the folk music of that country. Uppsala-based composer, Mårten Jansson contributed the disc's commissioned work, A Part of My Heritage, a composition that Jim premiered on Swedish National Radio in March 2012. Other notable contributions to Volume III include the world premiere recording of Fredrik Sixten's 2012 Toccata & Fugue on BACH. The colorful 1964 Poul-Gerhard Andersen organ of Skara Cathedral, Skara, Sweden served as the perfect vehicle for this repertoire.
This trilogy of recordings from 2013 concludes with Modern Masters, recorded on the Åkerman & Lund organ at Västerås Cathedral, Västerås, Sweden as Nordic Journey, Volume IV. World premiere recordings on this disc include Norwegian composer Kjell Mørk Karlsen's Sinfonia Norvegica and three commissioned works by Fredrik Sixten: Passacaglia for Organ, Lamentation for Organ, and a work for two sopranos and organ with a text by St. Francis, Canticle of the Sun.
The Nordic Journey series has received considerable media coverage, including an entire program on the NPM show Pipedreams, hosted by Michael Barone, and two interviews on Wisconsin Public Radio, all in 2014. Pipedreams continued to broadcast many tracks from the more recent Nordic Journey discs throughout 2016 and 2017. The Belgian based Organroxx Radio has also broadcast several of the Nordic Journey discs during this time, as did the St. Louis American Guild of Organists Chapter.
Kalmar Cathedral, Kalmar, Sweden was the venue for 2015's Nordic Journey, Volume V—Many Landscapes. Recorded in April of that year and released in September, this double CD lives up to its title by including organ compositions that span the entire northern world: works from Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. Five pieces composed by Sven-Ingvart Mikkelsen, Fredrik Sixten, Kjell Mørk Karlsen, Pauli í Sandagerði, and Thomas Åberg were composed specifically for Many Landscapes. The unique nature of this edition of Nordic Journey was enhanced by it being the premiere recording of the cathedral's Tostareds organ, built in 2013. Jim supported this release by performing 20 concerts at music festivals throughout the Nordic world in 2015.
The music of Finland is the subject of Nordic Journey, Volume VI, released in September 2016. This double disc was recorded in June of the same year at two locations in Turku, the ancient capital of Finland. Disc one features the 1980 Virtanen organ of Turku Cathedral, the most historic location of the country. Two commissioned works by contemporary Finnish composers, Mauri Viitala and Santeri Siimes, plus several multi-movement, previously unknown works from the Romantic era form the basis of this part of the release. The colorful 2002 Gronlunds organ at St. Michael's, Turku was the perfect vehicle for a program of smaller works of contrasting styles, including the four organ compositions of Jack Mattsson, a transcription of a work by Jean Sibelius, and two pieces by St. Michael's organist Marko Hakanpää. Jim promoted Nordic Journey, Volume VI in New Zealand, northern Europe, and the United States throughout 2016.
Jim's ongoing recording endeavors continued in 2017 with the August production of Nordic Journey, Volume VII, a project that deployed the three organs of Nidaros Cathedral, Trondheim, Norway. Pro Organo released this double CD in October. The 156-minute program includes music from the time of Johann Sebastian Bach to 2017, also includes commissioned works by Mårten Jansson, Kjell Mørk Karlsen, Sven-Ingvart Mikkelsen, and Fredrik Sixten. Nordic musicians joining Jim in these recording sessions were Caroline Eidsten Dahl (recorders), Helena Ek (soprano), Arnulf Johansen (oboe), and Ola Lindseth (violin).
Jim traveled to Reykjavík, Iceland in November, 2018 to record Nordic Journey, Volume VIII, another double CD for Pro Organo. The music of the islands of the Nordic world: Iceland, Faroe Islands, Gotland, and Åland, play a leading role in this program. Volume VIII offers seven commissioned works including Nordic composers as well as other compositions from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The spirit of the country's Norse past may be found in The Vikings, a work by English composer Arthur Wills, and a collection of Icelandic Dances composed by Jón Leifs, and arranged for organ by Hallgrímskirkja organist Björn Steinar Sólbergsson.
In 2018, the Norwegian publisher Cantando Musikkforlag published the first volume of what will be an ongoing project: The Nordic Journey Series, which contains music that Jim has commissioned from Nordic composers.
Just before the worldwide lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Jim continued his musical activities, recording Nordic Journey IX in February 2020 at Olaus Petri Church, Örebro, Sweden. This collection has an all-Swedish program, recorded on the church's historic Åkerman & Lund organ. Jim was joined by Swedish soprano Helena Ek in a performance of commissioned works by Nils LIndberg and Fredrik Sixten, and the church's organist, Mats Bertilsson, who participated in a work written for two organs by Gunnar Thyrestam. Nordic Journey Volume IX also included commissioned works by Swedish virtuoso Gunnar Idenstam and Anders S. Börjesson, as well as the premiere recording of a Romantic Era composition, Passacaglia in F-sharp minor by Herman Åkerberg.
In the same trip, Jim recorded Nordic Journey Volume X, a double-disc set devoted to music from Denmark, using two notable venues in that country: Helligåndskirken, Copenhagen, and St. Morten's Church, Randers. Jim welcomed organist George Chittenden in a performance of a four-hand Fantasi by nineteenth-century composer Gustav Adolf Mankell. Disc one, recorded in Copenhagen, concerns itself with Romantic Era works, plus Carl Nielsen's epic Commotio, while disc two contains music from the Danish Neo-Classic and Contemporary schools. Norsk Musikforlag published Jim's The Nordic Journey Series Volume II in October 2020, a hardbound edition containing thirteen works from Nordic composers, eleven of which are compositions that Jim had commissioned over recent years.
Jim continued his recording activities after the pandemic abated and recorded his largest project, Nordic Journey Volume XI, on the Paschen-Kiel organ at Central Pori Church, Pori Finland in November 2021. This triple disc collection was divided into three sections with the first disc being devoted to works from Nordic Romanticism, the second disc comprising contemporary works, while the third disc concerned itself with French Influence in Nordic music. Jim was joined by Finnish oboist Seidi Palonen in a new work by Norwegian composer Kjell Mørk Karlsen and volume XI includes thirteen commissioned compositions.
In March 2022, Jim traveled to Oslo Norway for Nordic Journey Volume XII, a double disc collection featuring an all-Norwegian program. Recorded at Uranienborg Kirke, Jim was joined by Norwegian artists recorder virtuoso Caroline Eidsten Dahl, a quartet of Norwegian folk violinists, the percussion ensemble Sisu, and a quartet of brass players from the Oslo Philharmonic.
Jim's publishing relationship with the Norwegian firm Norsk Musikforlag produced The Nordic Journey Series Volume III, a large hardbound book that featured a variety of older works appearing in print for the first times as well as many new and commissioned works associated with his recordings.
Jim's interest in the culture of Finland produced Nordic Journey Volume XIII, a single disc program devoted to Romantic Repertoire from that country. It was recorded in Turku, Finland at St. Martin's Church on the historic 1936 Kangasalan organ during October 2022.
Another recording from Finland was recorded in March 2023 as Nordic Journey Volume XIV, produced at the historic Kallio Church in Helsinki. Using both the neoclassic choir organ for baroque-influenced repertoire and the French-influenced gallery organ for Romantic and Contemporary works, this single disc includes an exciting commissioned work from the pen of contemporary Finnish composer Olli Saari, Dance Diptych, a virtuoso piece that Jim premiered at the same time for the Helsinki Organ Festival. Jim was also joined for one Romantic Era selection by Estonian kannel virtuoso Heidi Viisma.
Jim's most recent recording, Nordic Journey Volume XV, left the confines of the Nordic world as he traveled to Ulm, Germany for a single disc endeavor devoted to the music of the Baltic lands, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Estonian kannel performer Hedi Vissma made her second appearance on a Nordic Journey recording, performing in a commissioned work, Three Pieces for Organ and Estonian Kannel. A second commissioned work, Lithuanian Folk Suite by Vidas Pinkevicius was another highlight from this program. The organ at Pauluskirche, Ulm, is regarded as one of the most monumental examples of German Romanticism.
2024 will see the recording and release of two new projects in the series. The projected Nordic Journey Volume XVI has been scheduled to be recorded in Norway at the northern location of Bodø Cathedral. The August project will be subtitled North Atlantic Voyage and the double disc collection highlights music from Norway, Orkney, Shetland, Faroe, Iceland and Greenland. On the same trip, Jim has planned to return to Pauluskirche in Ulm, Germany for what will be Nordic Journey Volume XVII, subtited Germanic Connections. This double disc will examine how the Nordic and German traditions have interacted and influenced each other. Finally, Nordic Journey Volume XVIII sees Jim return to Pori, Finland in January 2025 in a project entitled Around the Baltic Sea, a project that examines the music of Northern Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Åland, Gotland and Sweden. The fourth volume of The Nordic Journey Series is slated for release by Norsk Musikforlaget for September 2024.