NORTHERN IRELAND INTERNATIONAL ORGAN COMPETITION 2024 ANNOUNCES PRIZES AND CLOSING DATE FOR ENTRIES
Details have been announced of the monetary awards and prizewinners’ recitals for this year’s Northern Ireland International Organ Competition (NIIOC), taking place in Armagh 12–14 August 2024.
The Senior Category, for post-Grade 8 players aged 21 and under on 12 August 2024, takes place on Monday 12 August 2pm–10pm in St Patrick’s Church of Ireland Cathedral, Armagh. Twelve organists selected by MP3 recordings will perform 20-minute recitals which must include a work by J S Bach. They will compete for a First Prize of £4,000; Second Prize of £1,000; Third Prize of £500; the Dame Gillian Weir Medal plus £300 for the standout performance of a single piece by any composer; and the Bach Prize of £300 for the best Bach performance.
Prizewinners’ recitals in this category will be arranged at venues including Saint Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue, New York; Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s Cathedral and St George’s Church, Hanover Square, in London; King’s College and Trinity College, Cambridge; New College, Oxford; the ‘Bach Corner’ at the St Albans International Organ Competition 2025; Glasgow Cathedral; St Michael’s Church, Dun Laoghaire; the Portico of Ards, Northern Ireland; and a European recital to be announced shortly.
All competitors in this category will have their performances professionally recorded on the day and made available to them at a later date. Each competitor will also receive personal feedback from the jury on their performance on Tuesday 13 August.
The Intermediate Category, for players of Grades 6-8 standard who have not yet gained an organ diploma, takes place on Tuesday 13 August at 1.30pm, also in St Patrick’s Church of Ireland Cathedral. There is a free choice of repertoire for recitals which must consist of two or three pieces, lasting in total no more than 12 minutes.
Performers compete for a First Prize of £500, Second Prize of £300 and Third Prize of £200.
The Junior Category, for players of Grades 4-5 standard, takes place on Tuesday 13 August at 10 am in St Malachy’s Church, Armagh. There is a free choice of repertoire for recitals which must consist of two or three pieces, lasting in total no more than eight minutes. Performers compete for a First Prize of £300, Second Prize of £200 and Third Prize of £100.
The closing date for entries for all three categories is Wednesday 10 July 2024 at 12 noon.
As previously announced, the competition jury will be chaired by the British concert organist Thomas Trotter. He will be joined by the German organist Anna-Victoria Baltrusch, herself a winner of many prestigious competitions and currently Professor of Organ at the Evangelische Hochschule für Kirchenmusik in Halle, and by regular jury member David Hill, artistic director of the Bach Choir, London, the Yale Schola Cantorum, Connecticut and of the Charles Wood Summer School, which runs concurrently with the organ competition.
Thomas Trotter will lead a Masterclass on Tuesday 13 August 6.30pm, St. Patrick’s Church of Ireland Cathedral, Armagh and an Organist Workshop on Performance Etiquette and Presentation on Wednesday 14 August at 11am, in First Armagh Presbyterian Church. Both events are open to the public, as are the competition performances.