Dutch organist Jacques van Oortmerssen (b. 1950) has been a prominent figure in the organ world for many years.
Internationally renowned for his versatility and for his performances of the music of J.S. Bach, van Oortmerssen studied first in Rotterdam where he completed his soloist diplomas for both organ, as a student of André Verwoerd, and for piano as a student of Elly Salomé. Thereafter he undertook postgraduate study with Marie-Claire Alain in Paris. He was awarded the Prix d’Excellence in 1976. He was appointed Professor of Organ at the Amsterdam Conservatory in 1979, at an exceptionally young age, and, in 1982, succeeded Gustav Leonhardt as Organiste-Titulaire of the Waalse Kerk in Amsterdam.
Jacques van Oortmerssen enjoys an international reputation as both soloist and pedagogue, in which context he is regularly invited to teach at universities and conservatories throughout the world.
A former visiting Professor of Organ at the universities of Gothenburg and Helsinki, as well as at the Conservatory of Lyon, van Oortmerssen was nominated Guest Professor of Organ (Betts Fellow) at the University of Oxford during the academic year 1993/94.
