IAO and RCO announce organ competition semi-finalists

IAO and RCO announce organ competition semi-finalists


Six semi-finalists have been announced in the IAO-RCO Organ Playing Competition 2024.

The selected semi-finalists are:

Tom Howell (Neath)
Jonathan Lee (Cambridge)
Piotr Maziarz (Rugby)
Miriam Reveley (Ely)
Timothy Stewart (Leatherhead)
James Todd (London)

Under the joint artistic direction of Sarah MacDonald and Robert Sharpe, RCO President and IAO President respectively, the IAO/RCO Organ Playing Competition is open to organists between the ages of 18 and 26 years.

The adjudicators for this year’s competition are Sarah MacDonald, Robert Sharpe and the American concert organist Katelyn Emerson.

The six semi-finalists have been chosen from submitted recordings, and will now perform in the semi-finals in York on Friday 26 July, with three entrants performing at Central Methodist Church at 1030 and three performing at St Olave’s Church at 1430.

The final takes place at York Minster on Sunday 28 July at 1930.

IAO President Robert Sharpe said: “This competition is an important celebration of the breadth and depth of up-and-coming talent, so we are delighted it continues to attract such a high calibre of young performers.”

RCO President Sarah MacDonald said: “It’s been a joy to adjudicate the first found of this competition, and we have already seen an extremely high standard of musicianship. We look forward to these six shortlisted players setting the bar even higher in the semi-final and final.”

Tickets for the semi-finals and the final are available on the door.

A full programme of festival events is available at iao.org.uk/festival-invitation

You can follow news & updates from RCO via our Twitter and Facebook accounts, or via an RSS feed.

Twitter @RCO_Updates Facebook page