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INTERNATIONAL ORGAN FESTIVAL HAARLEM - 2008
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47th INTERNATIONAL ORGAN IMPROVISATION COMPETITION
15
- 18
JULY
2008 |
In 1951, the
first International Organ Improvisation Competition was held in
Haarlem in The Netherlands. Anthon van der Horst, who was also a
member of the jury, composed the themes on which the five
participants had to improvise. The winner of this first
competition was Louis Toebosch. He was to be followed by Anton
Heiller in 1952, Piet Kee (1953, 1954, 1955) and many other
organists who later became internationally known names, such as
André Isoir (1966) and Naji Hakim (1982). Winning 'Haarlem'
was, and
is, the first step to an international career. However, even
just taking part in the competition has helped launch many a
career, as the names of the numerous famous organists among the
previous participants testify.
The International Organ Improvisation Competition and the International Summer Academy for Organists are organised as part
of the International Organ Festival Haarlem.
The last competition took place between 15 and 18 July,
2008, and was hold on the Müller organ ((1738 / IIIP / 62)
of the St.-Bavokerk and the Cavaillé-Coll organ
(1875
IIIP / 47) in the concert hall
Philharmonie Haarlem (The Netherlands).
The competition consisted of two preliminary
rounds on Tuesday 15 July (St.-Bavokerk,
10 contestants) and Wednesday 16
July
(Philharmonie
Haarlem, 7
contestants) after which a final round on Thursday 17 July (St.-Bavokerk,
4
contestants) determined the prize winner. On Friday, 18 July,
the jury concert took place.
The winner of the competition
received a prize of
€4.500,-. The other finalists eached received
a gross fee of
€ 750,-. In addition, a prize
of the audience was awarded.
The winner will also be
invited to give an improvisation concert in the Orgelpark,
Amsterdam in 2009.
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The jury consisted of Bert van den Brink (The Netherlands),
Thierry Escaich (France), Peter Planyavsky (Austria),
Ansgar Wallenhorst (Germany) and Jan Welmers (The Netherlands).
The chairman of the jury was Stephen Taylor.
The improvisations performed in the first and second round were decisive for admittance to the final round, and were also
taken into account in the final assessment.
Prior to the competition a
selection round took place. 20 Organists sent a recording of an improvisation on the following theme
Nine participants were selected by the jury, that consisted of Cor Ardesch, Bernard Bartelink and Anton Pauw. The tenth participant, Dennis Vallenduuk, is the winner of the National Improvisation Contest. The other nine participants are Jukka Aro (Finland, final 2006), David Cowen (England), Jean-Baptiste Dupont (France), David Franke (Germany, final 2006), Frank Krumbolz (Germany), and from the Netherlands, Wilbert Berendsen, Wout Bosschaart, Jacob Lekkerkerker and Gerben Mourik.
In the first round of the competition, they improvised on the following themes by Wim de Ruiter:
Jukka Aro, David Cowen, Jean-Baptiste Dupont, David Franke, Wout Bosschaart, Jacob Lekkerkerker and Gerben Mourik were admitted to the second round, in which they improvised on the Pange Lingua theme:
Based on their performances in the 1rst and 2nd round, David Cowen, Jean-Baptiste Dupont, David Franke and Gerben Mourik were admitted to the final round, in which they improvised on a theme by Ig Henneman:
Here you can listen to the improvisations in the final round:
Gerben Mourik mp3 - David Franke mp3 - David Cowen mp3 - Jean-Baptiste Dupont mp3
Read about the competition in 2006 and
listen to the finalists
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