PAUL JORDAN

JORDAN, PAUL Paul Jordan, organist and composer, passed away on Sunday, March 1st, 2015, at the age of 75. Jordan was born in New York to Dr. Henry P. Jordan and Irene Brandt Jordan. Jordan attended Harvard University and Columbia University and received graduate degrees from the Staatliche Hochschule fuer Musik in Frankfurt am Main (where he studied under the famous blind organist Helmut Walcha), the Yale School of Music, and the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago (PhD). Mr. Jordan was the organist and music director at the United Church on the Green in New Haven, and then a professor of music at Binghamton University (SUNY), New York for 20 years. As a distinguished organist, he toured the world, performing at churches, cathedrals and such concert halls as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and the Gewandhaus in Leipzig. Among Jordan’s numerous achievements and works, Jordan wrote many endings to J.S. Bach’s unfinished masterpiece, The Art of the Fugue. He was awarded a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts to commit the work to memory (a feat almost unparalleled), and recorded the piece with his own ending (www.brioso.com/covers/BR128.htm). Paul Jordan was an outstanding musician with vast knowledge beyond music, including subjects such as philosophy, history, literature, and politics. He is survived by his wife, Xilin Jordan, son, Libai, and brother, Don F. Jordan. Jordan will be laid to rest in the family grave in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. A celebration of his life will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, please send contributions to: http://www.tibetfund.org/