The final rounds of the 50th Anniversary International Organ Festival competitions were held July 19 in St. Albans Cathedral. Nineteen young organists from across the globe have been taking part, with quarter- and semi-finals being held at the cathedral and other churches around St. Albans.
Two first prize winners have been announced.
The Interpretation Prize winner is Simon Thomas Jacobs from the UK, who read music as Organ Scholar at Clare College, Cambridge and is now Fellow in Sacred Music at Christ Church Cathedral, Indianapolis.
The Tournemire Prize for Improvisation was awarded to Martin Sturm from Germany who is an organist, pianist, conductor and composer. He is currently studying at the University of Music, Würzburg.
The prize for each competition is £6,000. The Interpretation winner will also receive a gold medal and recital engagements as well as representation in the USA for a season and a recording on Priory Records. The recital venues offered to the Improvisation winner include Notre Dame in Paris, King’s College, Cambridge and the International Performing Arts Centre in Moscow .
Other prize winners at the competition are:
Second Prize, £2,500, shared by Anna-Victoria Baltrusch (Germany) and Benjamin Sheen (UK).
Jihoon Song (South Korea): Peter Hurford Bach Prize of £1,000, awarded for the best performance of J. S. Bach in any round of the competition.
Simon Thomas Jacobs: Audience Prize of £500, awarded to the competitor who in the Interpretation Final, in the opinion of the audience, gave the most enjoyable performance.
Benjamin Sheen: Jon Laukvik Prize of £500, donated by Dr. Daniel von Allmen and awarded for the best performance of the commissioned work composed by Jon Laukvik.
David Cassan: The Douglas May Award of £800, awarded for the best performance of a competition work in either the Quarter or Semi-final rounds of either competition.
Finalists in the Interpretation Competition were required to play a 45’ recital which included a free choice of work by JS Bach, and American composer William Bolcom’s Free Fantasia on “O Zion, haste” and “How firm a foundation”.
The Improvisation finalists played Tournemire’s Petite rhapsodie improvisée, a delicately impressionistic tone poem, and three symphonic movements on themes, which were given to competitors just 40 minutes before their allotted performance.
The international jury of seven included first ever winner of the Interpretation Prize in 1963, Susan Landale, as well as representatives from Finland, Japan, the USA, Italy, France and Germany.
For further information contact Angela Tucker at angela.tucker@organfestival.com or call 01727 844765. www.organfestival.com
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