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The Frauenkirche Dresden Appoints a New Organist: 27-Year-Old Niklas Jahn

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The Frauenkirche Dresden has found its new organist in Niklas Jahn.

The 27-year-old Fulda native bested 28 other applicants at the audition finals, begun earlier this month. He was chosen for, among other things, his skill at improvisation-a necessity for a church organist. In fact, Jahn has received extensive training in improvisation from Profs. Hans-Jürgen Kaiser and David Franke. He also won first prize in the improvisation category of the Albans International Organ Competition and was a finalist in the 53rd International Organ Improvisation Competition in Haarlem.

DRESDEN, GERMANY - FEBRUARY 13: Visitors look at the Frauenkirche before the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the Allied firebombing of Dresden on February 13, 2015 in Dresden, Germany. On February 13-14, 1945, U.S. and British bombers attacked in successive raids that devastated the city and killed at least 25,000 people. The formation of a human chain has become an annual occurrence that not only commemorates the bombing but also makes a statement against local neo-Nazis, who in years passed have sought to use the anniversary to their own ends.
(Photo : Carsten Koall/Getty Images) DRESDEN, GERMANY - FEBRUARY 13: Visitors look at the Frauenkirche before the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the Allied firebombing of Dresden on February 13, 2015 in Dresden, Germany. On February 13-14, 1945, U.S. and British bombers attacked in successive raids that devastated the city and killed at least 25,000 people. The formation of a human chain has become an annual occurrence that not only commemorates the bombing but also makes a statement against local neo-Nazis, who in years passed have sought to use the anniversary to their own ends.
Nahl is no stranger to church organ music, either, having played the organ at the Christuskirche in Mainz, and worked as a church musician at the Liebfrauenkirche in Freiburg-Günterstal.

The Frauenkirche's original Silbermann organ was destroyed in the Second World War. The current instrument, built by Daniel Kern, is capable of playing a vast repertoire, including Baroque and contemporary music. The instrument has 4, 876 pipes and four manuals. It was completed in 2005, and inaugurated by Samuel Kummer, who served as the Frauenkirche organist from that year until his dismissal in 2022-making Jahn only the second Fraunkirche organist since the Kern organ's construction. (Kummer died in April of this year.)

"Niklas Jahn impressed with his extraordinary skills in the area of organ improvisation-a form of music that is crucial for the diverse services in the Frauenkirche Dresden," said Markus Leidenberg, head of the selection committee, and regional church music director. "His talent and feel for the possibilities of the core instrument were immediately audible. We are convinced that we have made an excellent choice with him."

Jahn expressed his eagerness to assume his new role, and his admiration for the instrument: "When I climbed up to the organ gallery of the Frauenkirche for the first time, I was impressed by the core instrument and fascinated by the baroque formal language of the church interior."

He will accompany this year's first Advent service on December 1.

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