International Organ Improvisation Competition 16 - 20 July 2010

Improvisation competition
General information

last update: 27 November 2009

In 1951, Louis Toebosch won the first International Organ Improvisation Competition. 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. Winning 'Haarlem' was, and is, the first step to an international career. 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 48th improvisation competition will be held from 16-20 July 2010. It will take place 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.
There will be two rounds, the first of which will be divided into two sessions:
Friday 16 July, St Bavokerk, all 8 contestants
Saturday 17 July, Philharmonie Haarlem, all 8 contestants
Tuesday 20 July, St Bavokerk, 4 finalists

The festival will officially commence on Saturday 17 July. The jury concert will take place on Monday 19 July.

The winner of the competition will receive a prize of 5,000 euro. The other finalists will each receive a gross fee of 750 euro. An Audience Prize will also be awarded.

Jury:
The jury will consist of Jan Raas (The Netherlands), Lionel Rogg (CH), Zsigmond Szathmáry (DE), Jaroslav Tuma (CZ) and Peter Jan Wagemans (NL). The chairman will be Stephen Taylor (secretary of the Foundation International Organ Improvisation).

Preliminary round:
A selection round will precede the competition. Organists wishing to compete are requested to submit a recording of an improvisation, to be received by 13 February 2010. The selection will be made by Bernard Bartelink, Joost Langeveld and Anton Pauw. Seven contestants will be selected; they will be informed by 1 March. The eighth competitor will be the winner of the Dutch National Improvisation Competition, held in May 2009.

Further information:
Contestants will be allocated time to practise on the competition organs before each round. They will have one hour to prepare the improvisation themes without the aid of an instrument. Assistants will be available in all rounds. The Dutch composer Klaas de Vries will submit the theme for the final round.
The improvisations in both sessions of the first round will be decisive for admittance to the final round; they may also be taken into account in the final assessment.
All participants will receive an allowance for travel and daily lunch/dinner expenses, and will be offered free Bed & Breakfast accommodation.

Applicants should take into account that they must be present in Haarlem from the evening of Wednesday 14 July (contestant’s dinner) up to and including Tuesday 20 July. During this period they will have free admission to all festival events.