NIIOC 2023 Competition Results
The winner of the 2023 Northern Ireland International Organ Competition (NIIOC) is George Herbert, aged 22, from the UK, currently a freelance performer based in London, and Assistant Director of Music Designate of His Majesty’s Chapel Royal, Hampton Court Palace. He wins £4,000 and six international recitals, at venues including St Thomas, Fifth Avenue, New York; Kaiser Wilhem Memorial Kirche, Berlin; and Westminster Abbey. The first prize is awarded by The John Pilling Trust and the winners’ trophy by Nelland and Creane Organbuilders.
NIIOC 2023 winner, George Herbert.
The second prize in the senior category of the competition – the inaugural David McElderry Memorial Award of £1,000 and three UK recitals, sponsored by the McElderry Family – went to Theresa Heidler (20) from Germany, who also won the Bach Prize. She is a student at the University of Music and Theatre Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy in Leipzig. Third prize of £500, awarded by Wells-Kennedy Organbuilders and Restorers, and three recitals in the UK and Ireland, was awarded to Jonathan Lee (22, Australia). The Dame Gillian Weir Medal for an outstanding performance of one particular piece was won by Philipp Henning (20, Germany), another student of the Mendelssohn-Bartholdy University in Leipzig, who was also highly commended overall for his programme, as was Tingshuo Yang (18, Luxembourg), a pupil of Eton College.
1st to 3rd places - Senior Competition
All Senior competitors with the jury, board members, chaired by Richard Yarr MBE, and the Minister of State for Northern Ireland.
The intermediate competition, for players of Grades 6 to 8 standard, was won by Elisabeth Merschdodf, aged 17, from Germany, a student of the Music High School Schloss Belvedere, in Weimar. Second place went to Georg Schafer, also 17 and from Germany, where he studies at the University of Music and the Performing Arts in Munich. Third prize went to 14-year-old Gavin Phelps, head boy chorister of Bath Abbey in England, who was commended by the jury as a player to watch out for in the future. The prizes in this category were awarded by The John Pilling Trust and the Pipe Organ Preservation Company.
1st - 3rd Places - Intermediate Competition
Darragh Magee (18), a pupil of St Colman’s College, Newry, won the junior competition for players of Grades 4–5 standard, with a prize of £300 and Ciaran Ward (19), a student at Queen’s University, Belfast, came second, winning £200. These prizes were sponsored by The John Pilling Trust and Mr Alasdair MacLaughlin respectively.
Junior Competitors
NIIOC is for players aged 22 and under and is aimed at giving them a first experience of the competition environment. It took place in Armagh on 21–23 August, with the senior and intermediate rounds of the competition hosted by St Patrick’s Church of Ireland Cathedral and the junior competition by St Malachy’s Roman Catholic Church.
The awards ceremony was attended by the Minister of State for Northern Ireland, Steve Baker MP. He joined the jury in congratulating the fourteen players who took part in the senior competition and the winners who will be giving prize recitals in venues including The Portico of Ards, St Paul’s Cathedral, New College, Oxford, Trinity College, Cambridge and Galway Cathedral.
The jury was chaired by the Canadian organist Isabelle Demers. The other two jurors were Daniel Hyde, Director of Music at King’s College, Cambridge, and David Hill, a patron of NIIOC since its inception in 2011 and artistic director of the Charles Wood Festival and Summer School, which runs concurrently with the organ competition in Armagh.
Speaking after the competition, Isabelle Demers said: ‘We were treated to some striking performances during the 2023 Northern Ireland International Organ Competition, proving that the future of the profession is in very good hands. First-place winner George Herbert impressed the jury with his command of the instrument and the refinement he showed in his Duruflé Scherzo. Theresa Heidler also showed remarkable mastery of the instrument during her performance, particularly in the works of Escaich and Reger she played. The high level of performance we heard made it rather difficult to choose the three prize winners, which is a very good problem to have!
‘This was my first time in Northern Ireland and I have really enjoyed my visit. I've found Armagh to be a lovely city with a great sense of community and good support for the arts. They are very fortunate to have such quality concerts and services every year during the Charles Wood Festival!’
For the past four years George Herbert has been Organ Scholar and Assistant Organist at St John’s College Cambridge, where he memorably stepped in at short notice to direct the college’s Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols for Advent, broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 in November 2021, when director of music Andrew Nethsingha was suffering from Covid-19. He graduated in German in 2022 and now lives in London, where he is building a busy and varied freelance portfolio as an organist, director and piano accompanist, and will shortly take up the role of Assistant Director of Music at His Majesty’s Chapel Royal, Hampton Court Palace.
Reacting to his first prize at NIIOC, he said: ‘It was my unexpected and overwhelming pleasure to be awarded first prize in the senior category of this year’s competition. It was a privilege (albeit a nerve-wracking one!) to share a stage with so many talented players. I’m sure that NIIOC must be one of the friendliest music competitions that exists – from the extremely warm, welcoming organising team and the encouraging jury to the delightful company of the other competitors. I am hugely grateful to the endlessly generous McEnoy family for putting me up for the weekend, am very excited to perform the recitals generously offered by the competition.’
Richard Yarr MBE, founding chairman of NIIOC, said: ‘They say that the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and we’re thrilled that so many brilliant young organists joined us this year from near and far. The standard has been at the highest level across all categories and we’re so proud of the role we play as encouragers and facilitators.’