The 2024 Competition Categories & Prizes
Rules & conditions can be found here.
Senior Competition
Post-grade 8
Entry for Shortlisting (Cost £60 / €65)
Rehearsal – 1.5 hours on the competition instrument
Level – Post-Grade 8 Standard
Age – 21 or under on Monday 12 August 2024
Programme: A 20-minute recital which must include a work by J S Bach.
Venue: St Patrick’s Church of Ireland Cathedral, Armagh
Date/time: Monday 11 August 12:30pm–10pm
Prizes
First Prize: £4,000
Second Prize: £1,000
Third Prize: £500
The Dame Gillian Weir Medal plus £300, for the standout performance of a single piece by any composer.
Bach Prize: £300 for the best Bach performance
A portfolio of prize recitals in this category will be announced on Monday 29 April.
Dame Gillian Weir Medal:
This bespoke medal, created by the award-winning Northern Ireland silversmith, Joel Smyth, was commissioned by NIIOC in 2018 to celebrate the exceptional work of our Patron Dame Gillian Weir both as a musician and educator. It will be awarded by the jury, on behalf of Dame Gillian, for the performance of a single work which they consider the most outstanding in the Senior category.
Intermediate Category
Grades 6-8 standard
Entry for Shortlisting (Cost £40 / €45)
Rehearsal – 1 hour on the competition instrument
Level – Grades 6-8 Standard (competitors must not have gained a diploma)
Age – 21 or under on Tuesday 13 August 2024
Programme: A recital lasting no more than 12 minutes, which must consist of two or three pieces.
Venue: St Patrick’s Church of Ireland Cathedral, Armagh
Date/time: Tuesday 13 August at 1pm
Prize
First Prize: £500
Second Prize: £300
Third Prize: £200
Junior Category
Grades 4-5
Entry for Shortlisting (Cost £20 / €25)
Rehearsal – 1 hour on the competition instrument
Level – Grades 4-5 Standard
Age – 21 or under on Tuesday 13 August 2024
Programme: A recital lasting no more than 8 minutes, which must consist of two or three pieces.
Venue: St. Malachy's Church
Date/time: Tuesday 13 August at 10:30am
Prize
First Prize: £300
Second Prize: £200
Third Prize: £100
The 2024 Jury
Thomas Trotter, Chair
Thomas Trotter is one of Britain’s most widely admired musicians, reflected in Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II awarding him The Queen’s Medal for Music on St Cecilia’s Day 2020. He has a special relationship with the City of Birmingham, where he has been City Organist since 1983 – only the seventh post-holder since 1834. Earlier in his career he was organ scholar at King’s College, Cambridge, and he later continued his studies with Marie-Claire Alain in Paris where he took the Prix de Virtuosité in her class. Thomas has been Organist at St Margaret’s Church, Westminster Abbey since 1982 and has recently been appointed Resident Organist of the Gulangyu Organ Arts Centre in China.
Thomas won the Royal Philharmonic Society Instrumental award in 2002 and he received honorary Doctorates from both of Birmingham’s Universities in 2003 and 2006. In 2012 he was named Performer of the Year by the New York Chapter of the American Guild of Organists and in 2016 he was awarded the Medal of the Royal College of Organists. Thomas has toured on four continents, and has played at many International Festivals such as Bath, Salzburg, Edinburgh and the Proms. He regularly inaugurates new instruments both at home and abroad, and he has recorded for Hyperion, Chandos, Regent, EMI and Decca.
Anna-Victoria Baltrusch
Anna-Victoria Baltrusch was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1989. She studied Church Music, Organ and Piano at the Hochschule für Musik in Freiburg im Breisgau with Martin Schmeding, Zsigmond Szathmáry and Frédéric Champion. Anna-Victoria has enjoyed success at a range of prestigious organ competitions internationally: first prize at the Internationaler Orgelwettbewerb der Bach-Gesellschaft Wiesbaden (2009); second prize at the 60th International Music Competition of the ARD in Munich (2011); first prize at the Internationaler August-Gottfried-Ritter-Wettbewerb in Magdeburg (2013); second prize at the St. Albans International Organ Competition (2013); and second prize at the Internationaler Bach/Liszt-Orgelwettbewerb Erfurt-Weimar (2015).
Anna-Victoria Baltrusch has performed in recitals and concerts throughout Europe, and has worked at institutions including the University of Music, Leipzig and is currently Professor of Organ at the Evangelische Hochschule für Kirchenmusik in Halle.
David Hill
David Hill is widely recognized as one of the leading choral directors in the UK. His fine musicianship is recognised through his appointments as Artistic Director of the Bach Choir, London and Yale Schola Cantorum, a Past President of the Royal College of Organists, former Chief Conductor of the BBC Singers and former Organist and Director of Music of Westminster Cathedral, Winchester Cathedral and St John’s College Cambridge. David is a patron of the competition and has been a jury member every year since its inception.
Born in Carlisle and educated at Chetham’s School of Music, of which he is now a Governor, he was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists at the remarkably young age of 17. He holds an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Southampton for Services to Music, and in March 2018, he was honoured with the prestigious Royal College of Organists medal, in recognition of distinguished achievement in choral conducting and organ playing. In January 2019 David Hill was awarded an MBE for services to music.
