- St Albans International Organ Festival
The International Organ Festival (IOF) is a biennial music festival and organ competition held in
St Albans ,England since 1963. Originally held annually, it was changed to every two years in 1965 due to the complexity of organising the increasingly ambitious programme. The festival is run mainly by volunteers.Background
The festival was conceived by
Peter Hurford to celebrate the building of the new organ inSt Albans Cathedral byHarrison & Harrison . The main competitions are still conducted on this instrument, its eclectic style and modern electropneumatic action now complemented by another self-containedtracker action instrument which The International Organ Festival Society, the charity which runs the Festival, has had built for its own use and sited at St Saviour's Church, St Albans. This was built by Peter Collins in the style of, and in homage to, the early 18th century German organ builderAndreas Silbermann . There is a new (2005 ) organ in St Peter's Church, St Albans byMander Organs , which from2007 will play a role in the festival and competitions.There are two main competitions, the interpretation competition and the improvisation competition (the Tournemire Prize). Judges have included
Piet Kee ,Marie-Claire Alain ,Anton Heiller ,Ralph Downes ,Thomas Trotter ,Ton Koopman ,Naji Hakim and David Sanger. The competition is considered prestigious, as may be judged by the list of past winners, and judges have occasionally decided not to award first prize.Alongside the festival there is an exhibition of organs by the major British organ builders, and during the week there are demonstration recitals played on these.
The main concert series includes large orchestral and choral works, solo performances, and cabaret in the evenings. Many of the great orchestras (the
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra , theRoyal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and others) have played in the Festival, and there have been recitals and concerts from performers such as John Williams,Sarah Walker ,Musica Antiqua Köln ,Evelyn Glennie ,Emma Kirkby andJames Bowman . Concerts have sometimes been broadcast onBBC Radio 3 . Most of the concerts take place in the Cathedral, but some take place in St Saviour's.The artistic directors have almost all been the Master of the Music of the Cathedral from the time of the founding of the festival by Peter Hurford until today. The current Artistic Director is Andrew Lucas.
The 2007 Festival (which took place 12-20th July) featured organists
Ludger Lohmann , David Titterington, Lynne Davis, Paul Jacobs, Martin Baker (all Jury Members) and Simon Johnson and Richard Pinel; the choirs of St Albans Cathedral, St John's College, Cambridge, St Thomas Church Fifth Avenue, NYC; St Albans Abbey Girls' Choir, St Albans Bach Choir, Black Voices, theHilliard Ensemble ; Sinfonia Verdi; solo artistsCatherine Bott andJohn Lill ; and conductors John Scott, David Hill and Andrew Lucas.The Fringe
In 2007 for the first time [http://www.leisureconnection.co.uk/content/4/193/festivals.html St Albans Festival] came together with the International Organ Festival to provide a fringe programme. Events were mostly outdoors in historic parts of the City such as in front of the Clock Tower and in the Tudor streets of St Michael's or in the Alban Arena. Artists taking part included
Seth Lakeman andIsla St Clair .Previously, cabaret events and other entertainment had been run as part of the festival, including performances from
Richard Stilgoe ,Jake Thackray ,Instant Sunshine and others.Past winners
Interpretation competition
*1963
Susan Landale , UK
*1964Gillian Weir , UK
*1965Hans Joachim Bartsch , Germany
*1967Danièle Gullo , France
*1969 David Sanger, UK
*1971Larry Cortner , USA
*1973Jan Overduin , The Netherlands /Walter Glyn Jenkins , UK
*1975Lynne Davis , USA
*1977Peggy Haas , USA /Marcus Huxley , UK "(joint second)"
*1979Thomas Trotter , UK
*1981David Rowland , UK "(second prize)"
*1983Kevin Bowyer , UK
*1985Kimberly Marshall , USA
*1987Bas de Vroome , The Netherlands "(second prize)"
*1989Mikael Wahlin , Sweden
*1991Joseph Adam , USA
*1993Gabriel Marghieri , France
*1995Mattias Wager , Sweden
*1997David Goode , UK "(second prize)"
*1999Pier-Damiano Peretti , Italy
*2001Johannes Unger , Germany
*2003Herman Jordaan , South Africa
*2005Andrew Dewar , UK
*2007Ulrich Walther , Germany [ [http://www.herts24.co.uk/search/story.aspx?brand=HADOnline&category=WhatsonMusicClas&itemid=WEED26%20Jul%202007%2011:32:32:077&tBrand=HADOnline&tCategory=search Herts Advertiser 26 July 2007 - accessed 13 August 2007] ]Improvisation competition
*1963
Guy Bovet , Switzerland
*1964André Isoir , France
*1971Hans Eugen Frischknecht , Switzerland
*1973Kees van Ersel , The Netherlands
*1975Nathan Ensign , USA
*1977Jos van der Kooy , The Netherlands
*1979Christoph Tietze , USA
*1983Naji Hakim , France
*1985Marie-Bernadette Dufourcet-Hakim , France
*1987David Drury , Australia
*1991Christoph Kuhlmann , Germany
*1993David Briggs , UK
*1997Martin Baker , UK
*2001Hayo Boerema , The Netherlands /Thomas Lennartz , Germany "(joint second)"
*2003Robert Houssart , The Netherlands
*2005Gerben Mourik , The Netherlands
*2007 not awarded [ [http://www.herts24.co.uk/search/story.aspx?brand=HADOnline&category=WhatsonMusicClas&itemid=WEED26%20Jul%202007%2011:32:32:077&tBrand=HADOnline&tCategory=search Herts Advertiser 26 July 2007 - accessed 13 August 2007] ]References
External links
* [http://www.organfestival.com/ IOFS website]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.