NORTHERN IRELAND INTERNATIOAL ORGAN COMPETITION 2024 ANNOUNCES DATES AND JURY
NORTHERN IRELAND INTERNATIONAL ORGAN COMPETITION 2024 ANNOUNCES DATES AND JURY
The Northern Ireland International Organ Competition (NIIOC) will take place from Monday 12 August to Wednesday 14 August 2024 in Armagh. This year’s jury will be chaired by concert organist Thomas Trotter, who will be joined by Anna-Victoria Baltrusch, Professor of Organ at the Evangelical High School for Church Music in Halle, Germany, and by 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.
The upper age limit for competitors will return to 21, following an extension to 22 during the pandemic period. The Senior and Intermediate sections of NIIOC 2024 take place in St Patrick’s Church of Ireland Cathedral, Armagh and the Junior Competition in St Malachy’s Roman Catholic Church, Armagh.
The first prize, supported by the John Pilling Trust, will be £4,000 plus several prestigious recital dates. Full details of the monetary prizes and recitals will be announced on Monday 29 April.
Entries for the competition are now open, and the deadline for submissions is Wednesday 10 July at 12 noon. More information can be found on the competition website www.niioc.com or contact the competition organisers by email info@niioc.com
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THE 2024 JURY
Thomas Trotter is one of Britain’s most widely admired musicians, reflected in Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II awarding him The Queen’s Medal for Music on St Cecilia’s Day 2020. He has a special relationship with the City of Birmingham, where he has been City Organist since 1983 – only the seventh post-holder since 1834. Earlier in his career he was organ scholar at King’s College, Cambridge, and he later continued his studies with Marie-Claire Alain in Paris where he took the Prix de Virtuosité in her class. Thomas has been Organist at St Margaret’s Church, Westminster Abbey since 1982 and has recently been appointed Resident Organist of the Gulangyu Organ Arts Centre in China. Thomas won the Royal Philharmonic Society Instrumental award in 2002 and he received honorary Doctorates from both of Birmingham’s Universities in 2003 and 2006. In 2012 he was named Performer of the Year by the New York Chapter of the American Guild of Organists and in 2016 he was awarded the Medal of the Royal College of Organists. Thomas has toured on four continents, and has played at many international festivals such as Bath, Salzburg, Edinburgh and the BBC Proms. He regularly inaugurates new instruments both at home and abroad, and he has recorded for Hyperion, Chandos, Regent, EMI and Decca.
Anna-Victoria Baltrusch was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1989. She studied Church Music, Organ and Piano at the Hochschule für Musik in Freiburg im Breisgau with Martin Schmeding, Zsigmond Szathmáry and Frédéric Champion. Anna-Victoria has enjoyed success at a range of prestigious organ competitions internationally: first prize at the Internationaler Orgelwettbewerb der Bach-Gesellschaft Wiesbaden (2009); second prize at the 60th International Music Competition of the ARD in Munich (2011); first prize at the Internationaler August-Gottfried-Ritter-Wettbewerb in Magdeburg (2013); second prize at the St. Albans International Organ Competition (2013); and second prize at the Internationaler Bach/Liszt-Orgelwettbewerb Erfurt-Weimar (2015).
She has performed in recitals and concerts throughout Europe, has worked at institutions including the University of Music, Leipzig and is currently Professor of Organ at the Evangelische Hochschule für Kirchenmusik in Halle.
David Hill is widely recognized as one of the leading choral directors in the UK. His fine musicianship is recognised through his appointments as Artistic Director of the Bach Choir, London and Yale Schola Cantorum, a Past President of the Royal College of Organists, former Chief Conductor of the BBC Singers and former Organist and Director of Music of Westminster Cathedral, Winchester Cathedral and St John’s College Cambridge. David is a patron of the competition and has been a jury member every year since its inception.
Born in Carlisle and educated at Chetham’s School of Music, of which he is now a Governor, he was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists at the remarkably young age of 17. He holds an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Southampton for Services to Music, and in March 2018, he was honoured with the prestigious Royal College of Organists medal, in recognition of distinguished achievement in choral conducting and organ playing. In January 2019 David Hill was awarded an MBE for services to music.