Orgelbüchlein competition shortlist announced
Ten composers have been shortlisted in the composition competition run by The Orgelbüchlein Project and the RCO.
The ten are: Miriam Carpinetti; Jack Oades; Christopher Maxim; Peter Foster; Gerard Brooks; Stephen Barber; Roger Wibberley; Jeff Enns; David Loxley-Blount; and Ian Major.
Their compositions will be performed by recitalist Nick Morris in a public concert on Saturday 8th July at St George’s Church, Hanover Square, London (from 6pm, free admission). Three judges (Philip Moore, William Whitehead and Nicholas Riddle, Managing Director of Edition Peters) will announce the two overall winners at the end of the evening.
The competition saw composers of any age and nationality invited to submit compositions based on one or both of the chorales (Nos. 115 and 134) currently ring-fenced in the Orgelbüchlein Community for possible inclusion in the New Orgelbüchlein.
The competition attracted a total of 47 compositions from 33 composers. They were assessed by RCO President Philip Moore, RCO President-Elect Martin Baker, and Orgelbüchlein Project curator William Whitehead.
William explained: “There was a huge range of styles, techniques and general approaches, so the task of deciding between them was not an easy one.
“In the end, the ten shortlisted compositions were the ones deemed to have been the most successful in reflecting the ethos of Bach’s Orgelbüchlein for the modern age.”