The 1st prize winner Maria KORONOVA (Russia)
The second prize winner Xiaofeng HE (China)
The 3rd prize winner Jean NOUVEL-ALAUX (France)
On September 8 XIII Mikael Tariverdiev International Organ Competition was sucessfully finished. The chairman of the jury of the competition in Kaliningrad, organist of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris, John Vexo, considers the Mikael Tariverdiev International Organ Competition the most significant in the world:
" For several days we had the good fortune to listen to excellent performances of very interesting programs, - says he - It was very exciting for us to recognise new interpretations and new features of the national styles of our competitors. I am sure that the laureates will not have any problems in their future musical careers. They've already been noticed by musical community."
The first round of the competition took place: April 17 - 21 in Hamburg (Germany), May 1 - 9 in New Haven (Connecticut, USA), May 22 - 25 in Beijing (China) and August 29 - 30 in Moscow (Russia). Moreover, in a full-time format - only in Moscow, the auditions were held at the Russian National Museum of Music. In Hamburg, New Haven and Beijing the qualifying rounds were held online. At the first round, 22 participants were selected, representing 7 countries: Russia, South Africa, Germany, France, Canada, China and South Korea. The Kaliningrad stage (final and semi-final) of the competition took place from September 3 to 8, 2023 at the Kaliningrad Philharmonic and the Cathedral on Kant Island.
On September 8, the winners of the XIII Mikael Tariverdiev International Organ Competition were announced at the Kaliningrad Cathedral. Representatives of three countries - Russia, China and France received the title of laureates of the competition:
The 1st prize winner was russian Maria KORONOVA. Maria also received a diploma for the best performance of music by Mikael Tariverdiev.
The second prize winner was Xiaofeng HE (China)
Jean NOUVEL-ALAUX (France) won the 3rd prize
Aida GLUKHOVA and Elena MALEVA from Russia received competition diplomas. The Georgy Boos Special Prize “Russia`s hope” was awarded to the youngest finalist of the competition, Irina KRYUKOVA, a 15-year-old student Participant from South Africa, Isabel van RENSBURG, was awarded the special Vera Tariverdieva “Faith, Hope, Love” award. In 2023, 21 special prizes were awarded at this competition. Most of them are engagements of concert halls in Russia and Netherlands.
The jury of the XIII Mikael Tariverdiev International Organ Competition in Kaliningrad included outstanding organists from around the world:
Jean-Pierre Steijvers (Netherlands) - titular organist of the Cathedral in Rohrmund
Wolfgang Reisinger (Austria) - titular organist at St. Brigitte, Vienna. Professor of organ
Eugenio Maria Fagiani (Italy) - organist of the Franciscan Church of La Verna, titular organist of the Cathedral of Arezzo
Yuan Shen (China) - Professor of Organ at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing,
Elke Völker (Germany) - founder and artistic director of the organ festival and competition "Internationaler Orgelherbst Deidesheim", musicologist, doctor of art
Daniel Zaretsky (Russia) - Vice Chairman of the Jury, Head of the Department of Organ and Harpsichord at the St. Petersburg State Conservatory named after N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov
Alexey Shmitov (Russia) - Associate Professor of the Organ Department of the Moscow State Conservatory. named after P.I. Tchaikovsky
The chairman of the jury is John Vexo (France), professor at the Higher Academy of Music of Strasbourg and organist of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris.