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30.04.2015 20 organists from 10 countries took part in European round of the 9th Mikael Tariverdiev competition in Hamburg
Nowadays, the cities of Hamburg and Kaliningrad are involved in a number of common projects. The most famous among them is the Mikael Tariverdiev International Organ Competition, whose European first round has been hosted by the Free Hanseatic City of Hamburg for already a decade. The biennial competition’s first qualifying round is held in Kansas, USA, Hamburg, and Moscow. Kaliningrad hosts the semifinals and finals.
And every time during the Hamburg qualifying round, a delegation from Kaliningrad arrives here at the banks of the Elbe, and a Memorandum of Cooperation is signed between the two cities that share a history of being part of the Hanseatic League.
This year, the opening of the competition and the signing of the memorandum was attended not just by Kaliningrad mayor Alexandr Yaroshuk, as has been the case for a number of years, but also by Governor of Kaliningrad Region Nikolay Tsukanov, accompanied by a number of Kaliningrad-based entrepreneurs. The delegation was received by the First Burgomeister of Hamburg Olaf Scholz at the Rathouse of Hamburg. There was also an informal meeting with representatives of the Russo-German Trade Guild.
Meanwhile the competition itself, with 20 participants from 10 countries, ran its usual course at the Michel, a Hamburg landmark. The organ was playing from the early morning till late in the night. Rehearsals were followed by auditions. The numerous tourists who entered the cathedral would often stop, sit down and listen to the music. The jury was chaired this year by the famous German organist and professor of the Luebeck Acedemy of Music, Arvid Gast. At the closing concert, held at the Michel on 24 April, the jury members, participants, organizers and guests were addressed with welcoming words by the State Secretary, Dr. Pelikan representing the Office of Culture, as well as Russian general consul Ivan Khotulev and a pastor of the Michel.
Finally, the chairman of the jury announced the competition results. 10 participants had advanced to the second round, organists from Germany, Russia, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Japan, and Korea:
Lukas Euler
Hyoju Ahn
Jochem Schuurman
Anna Alexeeva
Ikuyo Mikami
Maria Lebedeva
Jan Pentak
Mateusz Rzewuski
Olga Persits
Antonio Di Dedda
Winners of previous Mikael Tariverdiev competitions, Lada Labzina (Russia) and Hiroko Inoue (Japan), along with German actor Peter Bause, presented the Az i Ya programme, where excerpts from books by Chingiz Aitmatov were interspersed with music by Tariverdiev, Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov, Richard Strauss, and Michio Miyagi.
The concert was opened and concluded by Amen Hayr Surb, a lithurgical piece by Makar Ekmalian, and a quote by the Armenian poet Grigor Narekatsi:
“And this book replaces my body; and this word replaces my soul.”
This was symbolic, because on that day, the world remembered the tragic events of a hundred years ago — the genocide of the Armenian people.
The 9th Mikael Tariverdiev International Organ Competition will continue in Moscow late in August. The semifinals and finals of the contest will be held at the Concert Hall of the Kaliningrad Philharmonic and the Koenigsberg Cathedral. Guild.
Meanwhile the competition itself, with 20 participants from 10 countries, ran its usual course at the Michel, a Hamburg landmark. The organ was playing from the early morning till late in the night. Rehearsals were followed by auditions. The numerous tourists who entered the cathedral would often stop, sit down and listen to the music. The jury was chaired this year by the famous German organist and professor of the Luebeck Acedemy of Music, Arvid Gast. At the closing concert, held at the Michel on 24 April, the jury members, participants, organizers and guests were addressed with welcoming words by the State Secretary, Dr. Pelikan representing the Office of Culture, as well as Russian general consul Ivan Khotulev and a pastor of the Michel.
Finally, the chairman of the jury announced the competition results. 10 participants had advanced to the second round, organists from Germany, Russia, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Japan, and Korea.
