The St Albans International Organ Festival presents arguably the world’s leading organ competition. Its roll-call of past prize-winners includes many of today’s most influential organists.

For two weeks our biennial festival celebrates organs and a lot more besides. A diverse mix of large-scale and intimate concerts, talks, workshops, art exhibitions and fringe events offers something for everyone and complements the organ competition itself. Events are centred around the magnificent Norman cathedral of St Albans and spread out across this beautiful historic city. Important venues in London host additional competition rounds and performances.

The festival attracts leading performers from around the world together with the very best young organists. It was founded in 1963 by the distinguished organist Peter Hurford OBE (1930–2019).

Latest News
April 5, 2024NewsWe are deeply saddened to hear that our dear friend and colleague Kalevi Kiviniemi, international organist and composer, died on 3 April in his native Finland at the age of 65. Kalevi was a jury member at many competitions around the world, including at St Albans in 2013. His performances, over 2000 of them, surely remain vivid memories for so many of us. His musicianship will live on in his recordings, particularly of wide-ranging French repertoire and of Sibelius. RIP, dear Kalevi. Photograph: Saint-Sulpice, 2013 [...]
March 16, 2024NewsWe are very saddened to have learnt of the sudden death on 23rd February of our former Chairman, Professor Sir Peter Gregson. In his relatively short time at the helm, he made a considerable positive impact on the IOF, including overseeing the introduction of the Supporters’ Scheme. We send our deepest condolences to Rachael and family from all at the International Organ Festival. cranfield.ac.uk/press/news-2024/tribute-professor-sir-peter-gregson [...]
February 13, 2024NewsWe ar pleased to share detailed histories of the Festival written by Paul Collins: The International Organ Festival, 1963 to 2001 — Introduction— Preface— The Festivals— The Competitions— Membership and Governance— Finance— The Future Download ’Anatomy of a Dream’ PDF Twenty Years On: The International Organ Festival, 2003 to 2023 – Introduction– Resilience– Artistic Director– Anonymity and insight– Commissions– The finals and the winners– Organs– Other Festival activity– The Covid Festival– Survival– Appendix A : Index of Artists– Appendix B : Members of Juries– Appendix C : Artistic Directors and Masters of Music at St Albans Cathedral– Appendix D : Prizewinners Download ’Twenty Years On’ PDF [...]
July 8, 2023NewsInterpretation First Prize and Gold Medal: Sunkyung Noh Presented by The Countess of Verulam and Derek Bird, representing the Williams Church Music Trust Improvisation First Prize: awarded jointly to Samuel Gaskin and Niklas Jahn Presented by Cllr Annie Brewster Interpretation Second Prize and Audience Prize: Julian Emanuel Becker Presented by The Countess of Verulam Douglas May Award: Ben Bloor Presented by the Mayor of St Albans Judith Weir Prize: Magdalena Moser Prsented by the composer of the commissioned work, Judith Weir CBE Peter Hurford Bach Prize: Johannes Krahl Johannes Krahl 🇩🇪 [...]
April 12, 2023NewsWe are delighted to announce the selection of organists from around the world to take part in the 32nd St Albans International Organ Competitions – celebrating 60 years. Competitors were selected by the pre-selection jury, who in a fully anonymised process considered a large number of excellent submissions from organists of many nationalities, all born after 14 July 1990. The sixteen Interpretation competitors will be: Julian Emanuel Becker🇩🇪Ben Bloor🇬🇧Jerrick Cavagnaro🇺🇸Quentin du Verdier🇫🇷Samuel Gaskin🇺🇸Kasumi Hamano🇯🇵Himawari Honda🇯🇵David Kiefer🇩🇪Johannes Krahl🇩🇪Hyelin Lee🇰🇷Charles Maxtone-Smith🇬🇧Magdalena Moser🇦🇹Sunkyung Noh🇰🇷Joshua Simões🇬🇧/🇵🇹Lars-Simon Sokola🇩🇪Alden Wright🇺🇸 The Interpretation Competition will include a new commissioned work by the celebrated British composer Judith Weir CBE, Master of the King’s Music. The five Improvisation competitors will be: Julian Emanuel Becker🇩🇪 Samuel Gaskin🇺🇸Bernhard Hauk🇩🇪Niklas Jahn🇩🇪Jakob Schönborn-Dietz🇩🇪 The Improvisation Competition (Tournemire Prize) has been substantially redesigned for 2023 and will provide a fascinating test for all creative and fast-thinking improvising organists. Prize money for 2023 has been significantly increased since the 2019 Competitions. The First Prize and Gold Medal (sponsored by Williams Church Music Trust) will be £12,000 and the Tournemire Prize for Improvisation will be £8,000, with both also being rewarded with recital engagements. Further prizes are Second Prize (sponsored by Amphion Fund) of £5,000, the Peter Hurford Bach Prize (sponsored by Mrs Elisabeth Wells) of £1,000, the Audience Prize (sponsored by Mr Andrei Lussmann) of £1,000, the Judith Weir Prize (sponsored by Martin Owen) of £1,000 and the Douglas May Award of £800. Competition Rounds Timetable, including Finals and Announcement of Prize Winners Presentation of Awards and Prize-Winnners’ Concert [...]
April 4, 2023NewsThe next St Albans International Organ Festival and Competitions – celebrating 60 years – will take place from 3 to 15 July 2023. The Festival welcomes internationally renowned performers – celebrating the organ and so much more. The programme offers something for every music lover – hear solo piano, jazz and classical song, chamber ensembles, glorious symphonic repertoire, and more. Illustration by kind permission of Bucket List Prints, bucketlistprints.com Booking now from St Albans Cathedral Box Office Download PDF brochure David Titterington, Artistic Director, introduces the Festival: This year we celebrate sixty years of the International Organ Festival with some very special performances. Large-scale highlights will undoubtedly be a rare chance to hear wonderful musicians headed by the Britten Sinfonia presenting two monumental works in the same evening – the Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony and Berlioz’s Te Deum – and the first ever concert in St Albans by The Tallis Scholars, who are celebrating their own 50th birthday this year. The list of exceptional performers goes on, catering for a wide range of musical tastes: the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective; solo piano from our newest Patron, Angela Hewitt; recitals by tenor James Gilchrist with Anna Tilbrook and violinist Rachel Podger with Christopher Glynn; and the evergreen jazz singer Elaine Delmar. Organ-focused events include recitals by our distinguished jury; free Bach Corner lunchtime recitals by outstanding young organists; 15 competition sessions and Prize-Winnners’ Concert; a free showing of a director’s cut of the Organ Stops documentary which first aired on BBC television on Christmas Eve; and Judith Weir, the composer of this year’s interpretation competition commissioned work, in conversation. I hope you will join us! Booking now from St Albans Cathedral Box Office [...]
June 6, 2022NewsInternationally renowned Competitions will take place in July 2023 Significantly increased prize money New commissioned work by Judith Weir CBE, Master of the Queen’s Music Substantially redesigned Improvisation Competition The 32nd St Albans International Organ Competition will take place in July 2023, celebrating 60 years since Peter Hurford presented the inaugural event in 1963. Applications are now being accepted for both the Interpretation and the Improvisation Competitions. The deadline for applications is 17 March 2023. The Interpretation Competition will include a new commissioned work by the celebrated British composer Judith Weir CBE, Master of the Queen’s Music. The Improvisation Competition (Tournemire Prize) has been substantially redesigned for 2023 and will provide a fascinating test for creative and fast-thinking organists, including improvisation to silent film and free improvisation with flute on literary texts. The finalists will perform on the revolutionary Harrison & Harrison organ in the Festival’s main venue of St Albans Cathedral. Further competition rounds will take place on the 2006 Mander organ in St Peter’s Church, St Albans; the exceptional 18th-century Richard Bridge organ in Christ Church, Spitalfields, London; and the 2013 Orgelbau Kuhn organ at the Royal Academy of Music, London. The First Prize winner will be presented with £12,000 together with the Gold Medal and recital engagements. The winner of the Improvisation Tournemire Prize will receive £8,000 plus recital engagements. A Second Prize of £5,000, Peter Hurford Bach Prize of £1,000, Audience Prize of £1,000, and Douglas May Award of £800 will also be awarded. The distinguished members of the 2023 Jury will be David Hill UK, Bine Bryndorf Denmark, Pieter van Dijk The Netherlands, Rie Hiroe Japan, Todd Wilson USA, Franz Danksagmüller Austria/Germany, and Jean-Baptiste Robin France. The competition attracts talented young organists from around the world. It has a reputation as ‘the friendly festival’ and fosters a supportive community amongst all competitors, who are hosted by local families in their own homes. The 32nd St Albans International Organ Competition and Festival, celebrating 60 years, will take place from 3 to 15 July 2023. You can find details about the Competitions and how to apply on this website. [...]
February 17, 2022NewsSave the date: Wednesday 6th July 2022 at 7.30pm The St Albans International Organ Festival and the Hertfordshire Lieutenancy are delighted to present a concert at St Albans Cathedral in celebration of HM The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. A unique and thrilling concert of popular and ceremonial music from across The Queen’s reign will be given in St Albans Cathedral to mark Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee. We are honoured that a member of the Royal Family will be attending this special event. International choirmaster and broadcaster Gareth Malone will present the evening. Headlining the concert will be London’s Southbank Sinfonia, described as an ‘orchestra like no other’ comprising thirty-three of the world’s most promising graduate musicians. Conducted by their founder, Simon Over, the orchestra will be joined by a massed choir of 160 singers, a 60-voice children’s choir, fanfare trumpeters and other guest musicians. Music will include Handel’s Zadok the Priest, William Walton’s spine-tingling Te Deum, Pete Letanka’s Hope and Glory, Hubert Parry’s I was Glad, John Williams’ Harry Potter Suite, and Paul Mealor’s Military Wives anthem, Wherever You Are. After concert costs are covered, net proceeds will be divided equally between Hospices serving Hertfordshire communities and St Albans International Organ Festival. Tickets will be on sale from Monday 11 April from St Albans Cathedral Box Office. [...]
September 23, 2021NewsWe are delighted that Angela Hewitt CC OBE, distinguished long-time friend of the Festival, has agreed to become a St Albans International Organ Festival Patron. Angela’s strong affinity with the organ was in no small part formed by her father, Godfrey Hewitt CM, DMus (Cantuar), the organist and choirmaster at Christ Church Cathedral in Ottawa, Canada for 50 years. David Titterington writes: ‘I know that our founders, Peter and Pat Hurford, would have been particularly delighted with this appointment. The deep connection with the music of JS Bach that Peter demonstrated throughout his life is fully reciprocated by Angela. We look forward to welcoming Angela back to St Albans to perform in the 2023 Festival.’ Angela joins Cllr. Annie Brewster, Sir Andrew Davis CBE, Dame Glynne Evans DBE, CMG, The Dean of St Albans, The Rt Hon Lord McNally PC, The Marquess and Marchioness of Salisbury and The Right Worshipful the Mayor of the City and District of St Albans in the role. Angela writes: ‘It was a great honour to be asked to become a Patron of the St Albans International Organ Festival, and I am more than happy to accept. Since I was a little girl, I heard about St Albans and its organist Peter Hurford, and always greatly admired his Bach recordings. My father would be so pleased to know of my new association with one of his favourite English cathedrals. I look forward to performing for you in 2023!’ [...]
July 16, 2021NewsThe prize-winners of the 31st St Albans International Organ Competition were announced at a screening at St Albans Cathedral on Friday 16 July, which was also streamed live on the Organ Festival’s website.  Watch the full presentation An exceptionally large field participated in the Preliminary Recorded Round, which was open to organists of all nationalities born after 17 July 1988. The judges selected twelve performers to take part in the online competition:Callum Alger (United Kingdom)Ben Bloor (United Kingdom)Daniel Chang (United States of America)Quentin du Verdier (France)Andrew Forbes (United Kingdom)Steven Knieriem (The Netherlands)Collin Miller (United States of America)Mitchell Miller (United States of America)Andrew Morris (United States of America)Magdalena Moser (Austria)Mona Rozdestvenskyte (Lithuania)Jannik Schroeder (Germany) Each competitor was asked to submit a video-recorded performance of a balanced 40-minute programme including: JS Bach: Fantasia in C minor BWV 562Saint-Saëns: Prelude and Fugue in B major op.99 no.2The commissioned work by Roxanna PanufnikPlus own-choice work(s). The illustrious jury of this year’s virtual Competition were David Hill (United Kingdom), Bine Bryndorf (Denmark), Pieter van Dijk (Netherlands) Rie Hiroe (Japan), Todd Wilson (USA), Franz Danksagmüller (Austria/Germany) and Jean-Baptiste Robin (France). The Peter Hurford Bach Prize of £1000, for the best performance of Fantasia in C minor BWV 562, sponsored by Mrs Elisabeth Wells, was awarded to Daniel Chang. JS Bach: Fantasia in C minor, BWV 562 (excerpt) Played on the Craighead-Saunder organ at Christ Church Episcopal in Rochester, New York The Roxanna Panufnik Prize of £800, for the best performance of the commissioned work by Roxanna Panufnik, was awarded to Mona Rozdestvenskyte. Roxanna Panufnik: Gloria cum Jubilo (excerpt) Played in the Propsteikirche in St Trinitatis, Leipzig The Douglas May Award of £800, for the best performance of a single work, was presented to Magdalena Moser.  Georg Muffat: Toccata decima from Apparatus musico-organisticus (excerpt) Played on the Wallfahrtskirche Sankt Veit am Vogau, Austria Three equal prizes of £1500 were awarded for the most outstanding overall performances to: Mitchell Miller Max Reger: Fantasia on B-A-C-H, Op.46 (excerpt) Played on the Walcker-Klais organ in the Stadtkirche of Ludwigsburg, Germany Quentin du Verdier Maurice Duruflé: Toccata from Organ Suite, Op.5 (excerpt) Played on the Beuchet-Debierre (1965) organ of the Cathédrale Saint-Pierre in Angoulême, France Mona Rozdestvenskyte Thierry Escaich: Vers l’espérance from Poèmes No.3 (excerpt) Played in the Heilig Kreuz Kirche, Detmold, Germany [...]
April 16, 2021NewsWe are delighted to announce the selection of twelve organists from around the world to take part in this year’s special virtual edition of St Albans International Organ Competition. An exceptionally large field participated in the Preliminary Recorded Round. The judges have selected the following performers to take part in the online competition: Callum Alger (United Kingdom)Ben Bloor (United Kingdom)Daniel Chang (United States of America)Quentin du Verdier (France)Andrew Forbes (United Kingdom)Steven Knieriem (The Netherlands)Collin Miller (United States of America)Mitchell Miller (United States of America)Andrew Morris (United States of America)Magdalena Moser (Austria)Mona Rozdestvenskyte (Lithuania)Jannik Schroeder (Germany) Each competitor will be asked to submit a video-recorded performance, which should be a balanced programme with a total timing of 40 minutes including: JS Bach: Fantasia in C minor BWV 562Saint-Saëns: Prelude and Fugue in B major op.99 no.2The commissioned work by Roxanna PanufnikPlus own-choice work(s). Each performance will be shown on a big screen in St Albans Cathedral, over three successive evenings 7, 8 and 9 July 2021. The videos will also stream online for viewing around the world and to the Competition Jury. Read more… Andrew ForbesAndrew MorrisBen BloorCallum AlgerCollin MillerDaniel ChangJannik SchroederMagdalena MoserMitchell MillerMona RozdestvenskyteQuentin du VerdierSteven Knieriem [...]
March 8, 2021NewsApplications have been invited for a special online Interpretation Competition, which everyone will be able to view on the internet. The total value of prizes is over £7,000. In consideration of the changed Competition structure we have reduced the Application Fee to £25. The application deadline was Thursday 1 April 2021. Read more… [...]
November 28, 2020NewsThomas Trotter, President of St Albans International Organ Festival, has been awarded the 2020 Queen’s Medal for Music. The Queen’s Medal is awarded to only one person each year and was instituted in 2005. The 75mm silver medal is presented by Her Majesty to ‘an outstanding individual or group of musicians who have had a major influence on the musical life of the nation’. Thomas Trotter – Birmingham City Organist, organist of St Margaret’s, Westminster and visiting Fellow in Organ Studies at the Royal Northern College of Music – has a long association with St Albans. His reputation as an organist of international calibre was recognised when he won First Prize for Interpretation in the 1979 competition. He has since been an illustrious jury member on no fewer than five occasions, most recently at last year’s competition. St Albans music-lovers can next hear Thomas Trotter at 5.30pm on 27 February, when he will perform at the Cathedral. Entrance and programmes will be free, with a collection for the St Albans International Organ Festival. Read more The Festival will resume its Saturday Concerts on 16 January with a performance by the organisation’s Artistic Director, David Titterington. David and Thomas are both generously donating their performances as fund-raisers for the St Albans International Organ Festival, which will present its 31st Festival and Competitions in July 2021. Read more [...]

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Arguably the world’s leading organ competition, and a biennial festival of inspirational music and art, celebrating 60 years. Cover image: https://t.co/dtca9Jxa51

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