The eleventh "Orgelfestival Holland", Alkmaar’s international organ festival, will take place from 17 - 26 June, 2011.
During the festival the
"500th anniversary of the 1511 Van Covelens organ"
of the Grote Sint Laurenskerk in Alkmaar will be celebrated.
The festival consists of an international competition, a series of concerts and an international organ academy consisting of masterclasses, lectures, excursions and workshops. These take place on the famous historic organs of Alkmaar and the surrounding area. The festival will bring together all the artistic directors of the cities affiliated to ECHO (the European Cities of Historic Organs) who will participate as performers, teachers and members of the competition jury. The Annual General Meeting of ECHO will also take place during the festival.
In the ninth Organ Competition the twelve participants will, for the first time compete for the:
"Grand Prix d'ECHO"
The festival will host the Ninth International Schnitger Organ Competition, which, in 2011, will take the form of the first ‘Grand Prix d’ECHO’.
The first prize winner will be crowned ‘ECHO Young Organist of the Year’, and will be invited to perform at the various organ festivals hosted by the ECHO member cities.
The following organists have already qualified to take part in the ‘Grand Prix d’ECHO’:
The 3 finalists from the Alkmaar competition held in 2009: Bart Jacobs, Michael Unger and David Boos
The 5 finalists from the Freiberg competition held in 2009: Gilles Leyers, David Schlaffke, Gijs Boelen, Charlotte Marck and Magdalena Hasibeder.
The 4 finalists of the Innsbruck competition will be determined on the 9th of September, 2010.
For more information see competition>>>>>
In addition to the competition, the International Organ Academy will also take place for the eleventh time. An un-missable opportunity for organists to gain unique hands-on experience studying on some of Europe’s most important historic organs, the academy, which is open to professional and amateur organists, as well as students, will focus on repertoire suitable for the instruments under the leadership of international specialists.
The masterclasses and workshops will take place in the Grote Sint Laurenskerk, utilising both of the world-famous organs; the Van Covelens organ dating 1511 and the Van Hagerbeer/Schnitger organ dating from 1646/1725. The academy will also visit the beautiful Müller organs of the Lutheran Church (1755) and the Kapelkerk (1755), both in Alkmaar, as well as the Grote Kerk in Beverwijk (1756). Further organs to be visited will include those at Oosthuizen (ca 1521), the Zuiderkerk in Enkhuizen (pipework dating from the 16th century until 1799) and the Lutheran Church in Hoorn (1773).
For more information see Academy >>>>
The Programme of Orgelfestival Holland 2011 is now confirmed and will be as follows (subject to alteration):
Saturday 18 June
First round of the Internnational Schnitger Organ Competition, ‘Grand Prix d’ECHO’
Opening Concert
Baroque Orchestra of the Scuole Civiche of Milan, programme to include the Concerto for Four Harpsichords BWV 1056 (Antonio Vivaldi/J.S. Bach)
Sunday 19 June
Lunchtime Concert: Frank van Wijk and Pieter van Dijk
Evening Concert: Jan Willem Jansen, Jean Ferrard and Reinhard Jaud
Monday 20 June
Jury Concert I
Grote Sint Laurenskerk: Roberto Antonello and Karin Nelson
Tuesday 21 June
Kapelkerk: Semi-final of the International Schnitger Organ Competition ‘Grand Prix d'ECHO’
Wednesday 22 June
13.30 Children’s Concert I:
S. Prokofiev: Peter and the Wolf
Jury Concert II
Per Bonsaken, JoaoVaz and Dietrich Wagler
Thursday 23 June
Children’s Concert II
Pupils from Artiance (Alkmaar Centre for the Arts)
in collaboration with Wijnand van Klaveren, organ
Friday 24 June
Final of the International Schnitger Organ Competition ‘Grand Prix d'ECHO’
Saturday 25 June
Organ Excursion in the province of North Holland
Evening concert: Canterbury Cathedral Choir and Pieter van Dijk, organ
Sunday 26 June
12.00 Lunchtime concert by the participants of the organ academy
Evening Concert: ‘The European Organ Union’ Each of the jury members performs music from their own country.
Online Ticket Sales
In order to guarantee your seats for the events during Orgelfestival Holland 2011, we are offering you the chance to book in advance from our website. The tickets for the most important events will be available to buy between the 1st of April and the 10th of June, 2011.
Tickets for events not listed are exclusively available from the venue, 45 minutes prior to the start of the event. Please note that this applies also to concessionary tickets. From 10 June, 2011, tickets will also be available from the Alkmaar Tourist Office.
Hotel Accommodation in Alkmaar.
Alkmaar, and the surrounding spa towns have many hotels, bed and breakfasts and youth hostels. Click on the following websites:
VVV in Alkmaar
Alkmaar Hotels
The Orgelfestival Holland 2011 is being organised by:
Stichting Internationaal Schnitger Orgelconcours
Stichting Internationaal Schnitger Orgelconcours is registered under number S 41240666, Chamber of Commerce Alkmaar - the Netherlands
For more information use our contact page
The prize winners of the International Schnitger Organ Competition 2009
from left: David Boos, Bart Jacobs and Michael Unger
The winner of the Schnitger International Organ Competition and receiver of the Rabobank Alkmaar Culture prize of € 5.000,- is:
Bart Jacobs, Belgium
De second prize, the Flentrop Orgelbouw prize of € 2.500,- goes to:
Michael Unger, Canada
De third prize, the Schnitger prize of € 1.000,- is for:
David Boos, Austria
De Public prize, the Izaäk Kingma prize goes to:
Michael Unger, Canada
Orgelfestival Holland 2009 will take place between Friday 19th and Sunday 28nd June. The events will take place primarily in the Grote St Laurenskerk in Alkmaar. Following on from the successful Buxtehude weekend in 2007, a similar formula will again be utilised in 2009. The opening weekend will be dedicated to Johann Sebastian Bach, and the closing weekend to Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck.
The opening concert on the 20th of June, a rare chance to hear the famous Choir of Canterbury Cathedral, promises to be an unforgetable occasion.
The Internationaal Schnitger Orgelconcours, the renowned international competition for young organists, provides the festival's 'cantus firmus'.
Het Internationaal Schnitger Orgelconcours (19th-26th June)
Twelve young, talented organists under the age of 35, and hailing from all over the world, will be invited to display their skills during this exciting competition, divided into three rounds. An international jury of experts will assess their performances. The competition will take place in co-operation with the prestigious competitions of our ECHO-city partners, Freiberg (Saxony) and Innsbruck.
The ‘Alkmaarse Internationaal Schnitger orgel-concours’ 2009 also forms the first round of an international ECHO competition, the following rounds of which will take place during the competitions in Freiberg (Saxony) in 2009, and Innsbruck in 2010. The grand finale of the so-called ‘Grand Prix d’ECHO’ will take place in Alkmaar during Orgelfestival Holland 2011. For more information about the competition, please click here >>>>
The festival’s opening concert (20th June) will be performed by the world famous Canterbury Cathedral Choir, one of the finest cathedral choirs in England.
Alkmaar’s collection of historic organs, all of which have recently been restored, will receive special attention during Frank van Wijk’s traditional, and highly popular, organ tour which will also take place on the 20th of June.
International Organ Academy
Our international academy will take place during the festival week. Applications are invited from potential participants throughout the world. They will have the opportunity to follow masterclasses on the historic organs of Alkmaar and the surrounding area. Additional workshops will be led by members of the competition jury. During the concluding weekend, selected participants will have the opportunity to present a public recital in the Grote Kerk. For more information, please click here >>>>
Our festival continually tries to build bridges with other cultural organisations in the city of Alkmaar. On the 25th of June, a youth concert will be presented as the result of a joint project between the foundation and ‘Artiance’, the Alkmaar Centre for the Arts. A large number of musically talented pupils from Artiance will take part. The programme will also feature other art forms including poetry and theatre. The festival will also feature contributions from the Regional Archive, and the Stedelijk Museum whose historic collections relate directly to Alkmaar’s organ culture.
Bach symposium (19th- 21st June)
During this special Bach weekend, a number of papers will be presented by leading musicologists. Bach’s music will performed on all of the historic organs in the centre of Alkmaar. On Friday afternoon the first round of the organ competition will take place. The final three candidates will play on the Saturday morning. All 12 candidates will perform a number of works by Johann Sebastian Bach on the Van Hagerbeer/Schnitger organ.
On Saturday afternoon, Frank van Wijk will lead his traditional walking tour of the historic organs of Alkmaar, an unforgettable, and justifiably popular, demonstration of the city’s living musical heritage.
The Grote Kerk will provide the setting on Saturday evening for the opening concert of the festival, performed by the world-famous Canterbury Cathedral Choir, directed by Dr David Flood. Organ works by J.S. Bach will be performed by the renowned Danish organist Bine Bryndorf.
The Sunday programme begins with a lunch concert in the Grote St Laurenskerk, performed by organist Dietrich Wagler. This will be followed by two papers, ‘Bach’s music on Silbermann organs’ by Dietrich Wagler, and ‘Affekt and symbolism in the chorale preludes of Bach’ by organist and musicologist Kees van Houten. The afternoon will conclude in the Lutheran Church with a programme of chamber music entitled ‘At home with Bach". The performers will be Annegret Siedel, baroque violin, Frank van Wijk and Pieter van Dijk, harpsichord.
On Sunday evening, Bach’s ‘Leipzig Chorales’ will be performed in their entirety in the Grote St Laurenskerk by Theo Jellema, Frank van Wijk and Pieter van Dijk.
During the opening weekend, ‘fringe’ events will also take place, with the goal of increasing public awareness of the festival, especially as Alkmaar will also celebrate its annual walking festival on the same days. On the Waagplein, the weekly cheese market on Friday will be ‘taken over’ by the organ festival. On Saturday afternoon, a trail of street and barrel organs through the centre of Alkmaar will lead visitors to the Canadaplein and the Grote St Laurenskerk. Regular concerts will also be performed on the carillons of the Waag and the Grote Kerk.
The Competition
The invited competitors will be pushed to their limits during the international organ competition. Within the space of a week, and with strictly limited preparation time, they will be expected to perform the most challenging works of Johann Sebastian Bach and Jan Pietersz. Sweelinck, as well as a contemporary composition from the newly-published ECHO composition book.
The competition consists of a first round with twelve candidates, which will take place on Friday 19th, and Saturday 20th June. The second round, with six candidates, takes place on Tuesday 23rd June, and the finale, during which three candidates will do battle, takes place on Friday 26th June.
The Academy
Parallel to the organ competition, the international organ academy features masterclasses and workshops. Amongst its various functions, the academy is especially beneficial to students, whose contact with historic organs during their regular studies is limited, or even non-existent. The masterclasses take place each morning between Monday 22nd and Friday 26th June on the organs of the Grote St Laurenskerk. During the afternoon, workshops will be given on various historic organs in the Alkmaar area.
The Jury performs...
On Monday and Wednesday evenings, the public will have the chance to hear the members of the jury perform in the Grote Kerk. They will perform music from the traditions of their own countries, as well as music chosen to tie in with the literature played during the competition and academy.
On Monday 22nd June, Paolo Crivellaro and Reinhard Jaud will perform, and on Wednesday 24th, Bine Bryndorf, and Theo Jellema can be heard.
Lunch Concerts
On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, lunch concerts will be performed from 12.30 until 13.30 in the Ter Coulsterkerk in Heiloo, utilising the new Pels en van Leeuwen organ. The performers will be the candidates of the international organ competition.
Youth concerts
On Thursday evening, the organ is given over to the youth. In cooperation with ‘Steunpunt Kunstzinnige Vorming’ and ‘Artiance’, the Schnitger foundation will present a concert performed by young people, aged 12 to 18. Performances, together with, or in alternation with, the organs will include orchestral, vocal, dance and theatre items, as well as performances on the organs by selected pupils.
Sweelinck symposium
The Sweelinck symposium will take place during the concluding weekend of the festival, and will open with the final round of the organ competition on Friday evening (26th June). Following the final, the prize winners (including the winner of the audience prize) will be announced. The three finalists will perform works by J.S. Bach on the Van Hagerbeer/Schnitger organ.
On the Saturday afternoon, a varied programme of music and papers will be presented. This will begin with a lunch concert performed by selected academy participants on both organs of the Grote St Laurenskerk. This is followed by a visit to the Stedelijk Museum, and the Regional Archive where a small exhibition of documents relating to Alkmaar’s organ history will be presented. There will also be a lecture by the organist Reinhard Jaud. This will feature music by Sweelinck and his South German contemporaries.
The symposium then moves to the Lutherse kerk, where a concert of ‘Chamber Music from the Netherlands’ will be performed by Frank van Wijk, harpsichord, Elina Keijzer, recorders and Koen van Stade, tenor.
On Saturday evening, the Grote St. Laurenskerk provides the setting for a concert by ‘Camerata Oude Kerk’ directed by Henk Verhoef , and
The programme on Sunday begins with a lunch concert in the Grote Kerk given by organist Paolo Crivellaro entitled ‘Prima et Seconda Prattica’. This will be followed by a lecture on the subject given by the performer. Then there is a lecture by Erik Winkel (Deputy Director of Flentop Orgelbouw) about "The Van Covelens-organ and the idelas of the Dutch Organbuilders". The final lecture will be presented by Dr Jurjen Vis about Sweelinck’s relationship with Alkmaar.
The concluding concert, on Sunday evening is entitled "The Musical world before the Reformation" and will feature the renowned choir Cantus Modalis directed by Rebecca Stewart, and the organist Pieter van Dijk.
For a detailed timetable of all festival events, please click here >>>>
