News
18.06.2007 Over is the North-American round of the Fifth Competition
Over is the North-American round of the Fifth Competition that took place in Worcester where Jonathan Oldengarm (Canada) and Robert Horton (USA) have won the right to further participate in organists’ contest in Kaliningrad.
The American Telegram&Gazette covering the competition in front-page article entitled The Sounds of Music proclaims: Worcester goes global. The paper presents its readers with the ideology of competition, the contestants and jury members of the North-American round. The round partly financed by George and Sybill Fuller Foundation was conducted in Holy Spirit Church of Assumption College of Human Arts. The jury comprised of leading American organists and professors of the USA and Canada. Four young musicians contested the right to go to Kaliningrad but only two could get it since the Fuller Foundation was offering two air tickets to Kaliningrad.
“Kaliningrad competition is famous for high level of its participants ”, says Maestro James- David Christie, the President of the North-American round’s Jury. “I think that both young organists will prove to be worthy representatives of our continent in Kaliningrad. This year we did not have many participants of the North-American round but it was a successful start and I am sure that many more young organists will join us in the future. I am inspired and optimistic with the perspectives of our cooperation”.
Kaliningrad – and Russia – were also represented in Worcester by Jean-Pierre Steijvers, the winner of the first prize at the First International Organ Competition named after Mikael Tariverdiev who played a concert program From Russia With Love made up of music by Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Khachaturian, Tariverdiev.
Vera Tariverdieva spoke of her impressions:
It was a very exciting trip for me. I was greatly impressed by Worcerster , this compact university city not far away from Boston that has about twenty organs. It is an excellent place for an organ competition. Frank Corbin, head of Music department of Assumption college and the representative of our competition in the USA has brilliantly organized the selection round. I am happy that it became a real event. But what made me even happier was the atmosphere of friendship and affinity that prevailed in the American round.
The sound of music. Russian event a first for North America