Jackson Borges, Organist and Director of Music at Concordia Lutheran Church in Newark, Del., will present a Heefner Memorial Organ Recital on Sunday, April 14, at 4 p.m. in Bomberger Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public.
Borges began formal studies in piano and voice at age 13 and organ at age 15. Since that time, he has served in capacities ranging from accompanist to vocalist, church musician to concert soloist, and vocal and instrumental coach to musical theater player. As an organist, Borges has performed extensively at home and abroad in venues such as the Spreckels Organ Pavilion in San Diego; Grace Church (Episcopal) and Central Synagogue in New York City; and Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles. He has also toured as vocalist and duet partner with American concert organist Stephen Tharp in Düsseldorf, Bonn-Beuel, Soest and Bocholt, Germany. His orchestral debut was made in 2005 performing as organ soloist for Joseph Jongen’s monumental “Symphonie Concertante” with the University of Southern Mississippi Symphony. That same year, he served as organist for the same institution’s Southern Chorale at the American Choral Director’s Association National Convention, performing at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. Borges has premiered new organ works by American composers Carolyn Hamlin and Daniel E. Gawthrop and has been awarded top scholarship and competition prizes from the American Guild of Organists, the Spreckels Organ Society and the Pacific Council of Organ Clubs.
Borges earned the Bachelor of Music degree in Organ Performance from San Diego State University, where he studied with Robert Plimpton. He also earned the Master of Music degree in Organ Performance from Westminster Choir College of Rider University in Princeton, New Jersey, studying with Alan Morrison, College Organist for Ursinus. Borges has also had additional coaching in improvisation from Bruce Neswick, Stephen Tharp and the late Tom Hazleton.
