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04.04.2015 IХ Mikael Tariverdiev International Organ Competition - The University of Kansas School of Music will host the North American Round
IХ Mikael Tariverdiev International Organ Competition
First round takes place:
USA, Kansas, April 8-11
Germany, Hamburg, April 20-24
Russia, Moscow, August 28-31
Second, Third Rounds: ,br> Russia, Kaliningrad, September 3–9
The University of Kansas School of Music will host the North American Round of the Tariverdiev (Russian) International Organ Competition Apr. 8-11.
The competition rounds are free and open to the public and will be held in Bales Organ Recital Hall. They will be held: Thursday, Apr. 9 from 2-5 p.m., Friday, Apr 10th 9 a.m.-12 p.m. & 2-5 p.m., and Saturday, Apr. 11th 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Additionally, special guest artist Lada Labzina, Honoured Artist of the Republic of Tatarstan and senior lecturer at the faculty of organ and harpsichord studies at the Kazan State Zhiganov Conservatoire, will present a free recital on Friday, April 10 at 7:30 p.m. in Bales Organ Recital Hall. She will perform a program featuring organ transcriptions of works by Tschaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Mussorgsky.
This will be the third time that KU has hosted the Competition. Other international sites for first round competitions include Hamburg, Germany and Moscow, Russia. The winner of the Competition will present a recital at the Bales Organ Recital Hall of the University of Kansas. The top three finishers will proceed to Kaliningrad, Russia in the fall of 2015 to compete for the international prize.
Judges for the KU Competition include KU organ faculty members Michael Bauer and James Higdon; Wichita State organ professor Lynne Davis; Martin Jean, Dean of the Yale Institute of Sacred Music; and Karel Paukert, emeritus professor of organ at Northwestern University.
The Mikael Tariverdiev International Organ Competition is the only international competition for organists hosted by Russia. For those who play this instrument, it has the same significance as the Tchaikovsky competition has for pianists and violinists. 2015 will see the competition held for the ninth time. Thierry Escaich, Chairman of the Jury of the 8th competition: “The participating musicians have shown a high level of performing mastery in all rounds. Comparing the Mikael Tariverdiev International Organ Competition to similar contests, one notes that this competition’s participants markedly surpass others. Equally important is the friendly atmosphere during the competition.”
The first round of the competition is to be held in Kansas, USA, Hamburg, Germany, and Moscow, Russia. Kaliningrad is to host the second and third rounds, from 3 to 9 September 2015. www.organcompetition.ru
The Mikael Tariverdiev Organ Competition has been held in Kaliningrad since 1999, with support from the Russian Ministry of Culture and Foreign Ministry, the Kaliningrad City Hall and the Kaliningrad Oblast government. At all of its stages, the competition is held at famous venues with outstanding organs: The Dane & Pole Recital Hall at the University of Kansas, the great organ at the Church of St. Michael in Hamburg, the Prokofiev Hall of the Glinka Museum of Musical Culture, and the Concert Hall of the Kaliningrad Philharmonic (2nd round). The third round uses one of the best organs in Russia and Europe, located at the Kaliningrad Cathedral.
The competition aims for maximum publicity. Its opening and closing ceremonies feature both the musicians directly involved with the competition and specially invited stars of classical music. Thus the opening ceremonies have, in various years, featured Gidon Kremer and the Kremerata Baltica orchestra, or the Viennese Academy orchestra with Martin Haselböck. In 2011, the Organ+ programme included organ-accompanied performances by the Terem Quartet, the Hide Hide duo (Japan, shakuhachi and shamisen), Gevorg Dabagian (Armenia, duduk), and in 2013, by the Synodal Choir and the Russian Horn Orchestra. This started a new tradition: the Organ+ festival, which now accompanies the competition every year.
The ninth competition will be held in 2015. The schedule is as follows: Kansas — 8 to 11 April; Hamburg — 20 to 24 April; Moscow — 28 to 31 August; Kaliningrad — 3 to 9 September.
The University of Kansas School of Music will host the North American Round of the Tariverdiev (Russian) International Organ Competition Apr. 8-11. The competition rounds are free and open to the public and will be held in Bales Organ Recital Hall. They will be held: Thursday, Apr. 9 from 2-5 p.m., Friday, Apr 10th 9 a.m.-12 p.m. & 2-5 p.m., and Saturday, Apr. 11th 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m. (www.music.ku.edu)
The 3 September opening of the competition in Kaliningrad will be marked by a concert by two outstanding musicians, the organist and composer Jean Guillou and multiple competition winner Alexander Kniazev (organ and cello). This concert will inaugurate a series of events dedicated to Jean Gillou’s anniversary. At eighty-five, this living legend of 20th-century music is as open as ever to experiments. At the opening concert of the 9th Mikael Tariverdiev International Organ Competition, the maestro will for the first time play in ensemble with a Russian traditional instrument orchestra.
Jean Guillou will join the jury, along with a number of outstanding representatives of organ schools from four continents.
The second round will be held on 4–5 September at the Concert Hall of the Kaliningrad Philharmonic, and the third round, at the city Cathedral on Kant Island, on 7 September.
A concert by the prize winners will follow on 8 September (also at the Cathedral). Any listener or organization has the opportunity of setting up their own special prize alongside the existing ones.
On 7 September, the contestants, jury members and competition guests will take the traditional trip to the Curonian Spit, where they can enjoy the incredible beauty of nature together. And realize that —
WE ARE HAPPY BECAUSE WE ARE TOGETHER.
The level of interest in the competition is evidenced by the number of applications submitted. There were 19 applicants for the first round in Kansas, 17 of whom have advanced to the competition. They are organists from various parts of the United States as well as from Austria, Japan, South Korea and Uzbekistan.
25 applications were received in Hamburg, with 20 advancing into the first round. These are musicians from Germany, Russia, Italy, Hungary, the Netherlands, Denmark, the US, Italy, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland, South Korea and Japan.
Concerts that are part of the Organ+ festival will also be held in Kansas and Hamburg.
8 April, Dane & Pole Recital Hall, Lawrence, Kansas
Russian musical highlights in organ transcription
Lada Labzina, soloist at the Tatar Philharmonic, Mikael Tariverdiev International Organ Competition winner
24 April, Church of St. Michael (Hamburg)
Az i Ya
Mikael Tariverdiev International Organ Competition winners Lada Labzina (Kazan, Russia) and Hiroko Innoue (Japan)
Excerpts from works by Chingiz Aitmatov read by German actor Peter Bouse
6 September, Friedrichsburg Gate (Kaliningrad)
Arabesque (A One-Picture Concert)
International competition winners Olesya Petrova (soprano), Alexei Goribol (piano), Rustam Komachkov (cello), Natela Toidze, People’s Artist of Russia, member of the Russian Academy of Arts.
9 September, the Music Tram and Depot No. 1: Organ+ Festival Closing
Lost in the Music: a concert programme
British composer and instrumentalist Stephen Coates and The Real Tuesday Weld will present English-language songs and music by Mikael Tariverdiev. CDs and vinyl records released in the UK will be presented as part of the event.
The Jury:
Kaliningrad
Arvid Gast (Germany), Chair
Guy Bovet (Switzerland)
Martin Jean (USA)
Rie Hiroe (Japan)
James Higdon (USA)
Jeremy Josef (South Africa, Austria)
Alexander Kniazev (Russia)
Alexey Panov (Russia)
Ville Urponen (Finland)
Erwin Wiersinga (Netherlands)
Jean Guillou (France), Martin Haselböck (Austria) and Daniel Zaretsky (Russia) participate in the Jury for the third round.
Kansas
James Higdon (Chair)
Michael Bauer
Lynne Davis
Martin Jean
Hamburg
Arvid Gast, Germany (Chair)
Christoph Schoener (Germany)
Daniel Zaretsky (Russia)
Anjei Horoshinsky (Poland)
Moscow
Ivan Rozanov, Russia (Chair)
Lubov Shishlanova (Russia)
James David Christy (USA)
Talivaldis Deksnis (Latvia)
Toomas Trass (Estonia)