Martin David Jean (born 1960) is an Americanorganist considered to be in the "highest ranks of the world's concert organists".[1] He currently teaches organ at theYale School of Music, along withJames O'Donnell. He has served as Director of theYale Institute of Sacred Music since 2005, succeedingMargo Fastler. He also serves on the board of directors for the Lutheran Music Program,[2] the parent organization of the Lutheran Summer Music Academy and Festival. He first gained worldwide renown after winning the major organ competitions ofChartres andNYACOP.
He earned hisDMA fromUniversity of Michigan, where he studied withRobert Glasgow. He was formerly associate professor and university organist atValparaiso University, where he also directed the University Kantorei. Among his many awards and honors are first place at the international Grand Prix de Chartres in 1986 and first prize in 1992 at the National Young Artists's Competition in Organ Performance, held by the American Guild of Organists. He is well known for his interest in a wide range of organ music. He has recorded works byTournemire andVierne. Additionally, in the past fifteen years he has acquired considerable expertise in the field of early music and performance practice, taking a sabbatical in 1999 to study withHarald Vogel in North Germany. His interest in early music was the driving force behind the installation of the noteworthy meantone-temperament organ in Yale University's Marquand Chapel, constructed and installed byTaylor and Boody in the summer of 2007.
