AUTUMN 2017

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NEWSLETTER AUTUMN 2017 www.organfestival.com

Founder and PresidentDr Peter Hurford OBE

Vice Presidents Patricia Hurford, Lesley King, Thomas Trotter

PatronsCllr. Annie BrewsterSir Andrew Davis CBE Dame Glynne Evans, DBE, CMGThe Very Reverend Jeffrey John, Dean of St Albans The Rt Hon Lord McNally PC The Marquess and Marchioness of SalisburyThe Countess of Verulam The Right Worshipful the Mayor of the City and District of St Albans Board of Directors

Interim ChairmanLesley King

Artistic and Executive DirectorDavid Titterington

MembersAndrew BlankfieldColin HamlingRogers Covey-Crump

AccountantCaroline Edwards

AdministratorLinda Hamling

St Albans International Organ Festival gratefully acknowledges the significant support of the following organisations, trusts and individuals:

The Constance Travis Charitable TrustThe Derek Butler TrustDouglas May TrustThe D’Oyly Carte Charitable TrustThe Dyers’ Company Charitable TrustFoyle FoundationGarfield Weston FoundationKirby Laing FoundationThe Liz & Terry Bramall FoundationThe Monument TrustOld Possum’s Practical TrustOrgues LétourneauPhillip Truckenbrod Concert ArtistsRhinegold Publishing (Media Partner: Choir & Organ magazine)Schroder Charity TrustSt Albans City & District CouncilThe Williams Church Music TrustThe Wixamtree TrustRogers Covey-CrumpDon and Lesley KingAndrei LussmannRichard Syred and Brian ParsonsPhilip and Sue VaughanThe Earl and Countess of VerulamDaniel von AllmenMrs Elisabeth WellsThe High Sheriff of Hertfordshire, Will Hobhouse Esq

St Albans International Organ Festival is also grateful to the many volunteer helpers who assist in the running of the Festival and the Society members for their help and support.

Media partnerChoir & Organ magazine

About Us

The 29th Festival is already several weeks behind us, but has left some enduring memories in its wake. Elsewhere, David Titterington takes us through some of the musical ones; I would like to add a few others of my own. In particular, as always, I acknowledge the tremendous support that we get from volunteers in all areas, and I’d particularly thank our hosts, who make St Albans so very special for our competitors by welcoming them into their homes and providing practical and moral support. That is one of the

features which make our competitions such a very different experience compared with many others.

It was good too, to have so many younger people around as helpers – selling programmes, acting as registrants, helping in the office and providing smiling faces and a welcome to audience members and competitors alike.

Our foray into London was successful in every respect except the weather – but even that did not put off a substantial number of new audience members attending the concerto final in St John’s Smith Square. What was particularly gratifying was that the vast majority of them stayed on with the large phalanx of regular Festival supporters to hear the competition results, suggesting that they had become caught up in the excitement of it all. The London events also provided the opportunity for us to raise the profile of our Festival among some influential opinion formers and current and potential funders – an essential component as we move on to consider plans for the 30th Festival.

Finally, I’d like to record my personal thanks to David Titterington both for providing an excellent programme and for playing a major part in securing funding for it, to Colin Hamling for an incredible amount of behind-the-scenes detailed planning work across all areas of the Festival, and to Linda Hamling, our administrator, for dealing with a whole plethora of issues on many fronts..

I look forward to seeing many of you again on 23rd September at our Prizewinners’ concert.

Lesley KingInterim Chairman

Interim Chairman’s Message

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NEWSLETTER AUTUMN 2017 www.organfestival.com

Prizewinners

Tournemire Prize for Improvisation : not awarded

First Prize Interpretation and

Audience PrizeThomas GaynorNew Zealand

Douglas May AwardSora Yu

South Korea

Peter Hurford Bach Prizeand

Second Prize InterpretationÁgoston Tóka

Hungary

Philip Moore PrizeLotta-Sophie Harder

Germany

Box Office Manoeuvres

Well – we coped without the security blanket of our little cabin in Sumpter Yard!In fact we had the benefit of a desk at the West End of the Abbey – this meant we were on hand to answer questions such as “Where are the loos?” and “Where do we put our donation?” All life goes past the West Door so even in slack ticket selling periods there was always something happening.

Things were, to say the least, a bit different this year. The Abbey renovations meant that access to our usual spot was impossible and given that St John’s Smith Square were sell-ing some tickets on-line, meant that our remit required “creativity” (non arrival of some tickets for instance!)

My sincere thanks to the team of volunteers – your patience, flexibility, adaptability and problem solving skills were legendary. We jumped in at the deep end and had a hugely enjoyable experience. See you all again I hope in 2019!

Mary Jenkin

How Many Canapés?

For the art exhibition preview? – 120 people? For interval receptions on two nights?And lunch for the jury, plus nibbles for the jury - Oh!

OK, let’s rally the troops and see who can produce what so that we have a balance of veggie, meat, fish and gluten free items. A few emails and phone calls later and the team is complete and menu ideas have been listed, thrown out and reinstated. Only so much can be done in advance as these small morsels do not travel well.

We were delighted to find we had been given a large table at Kingsbury Barn where we could pipe fillings into cases and arrange canapés on plates before opening time. A bit of a scramble, but job done and it is looking good. And just look at us now!

Pat Leggatt

Pat Leggatt and her team

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NEWSLETTER AUTUMN 2017 www.organfestival.com

From the Artistic DirectorReports on the 2017 Festival are beginning to appear in the musical press and those of you who follow the IOF on Twitter and Facebook will have been kept up to date on

what was a very full and exciting few weeks.

The 2017 competitions proved yet again that St Albans continues to attract the finest young organists. Across a wide and demanding repertoire, they delivered some outstanding interpretations and were supported and encouraged not only by enthusiastic audiences but by a superb jury. They have a difficult job to perform on our behalf and this year, as I mentioned in my summing-up speech at St John’s Smith Square, they were an exceptional team of colleagues. Our prizewinners feature elsewhere in the Newsletter, but our warm congratulations go to them and all the competitors who were successful in the Pre-Selection round and came to St Albans.

The September edition of Choir & Organ magazine contains a comprehensive report on the 29th Festival and you will find a link to it later in the Newsletter.

Yet again, it was the opening weekend that yielded many of the Festival highlights. Messiah proved to be a terrific opening concert and Laurence Cummings gave us a scintillating performance drawing the very best from our outstanding soloists, orchestra and the St Albans Bach Choir who were indisputably on tip-top form. Many said it was the finest performance they had ever heard – I can only concur as the many curtain calls and cheering at the end said it all.

Direct from China, Barry Douglas did not disappoint his large audience. Breathtaking virtuosity in Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition was tempered by some of the most poetic and revealing piano playing in works of Brahms and Schubert from one of our great pianists. The following evening, the Three Choirs Concert featuring the combined choirs of St Paul’s Cathedral, St Albans Cathedral and Temple Church showcased the familiar and less familiar. Nicolai’s Festival Overture on Ein feste Burg with Pier Damiano at the organ and the combined choirs proved to be an uplifting start to a concert which concluded with Bernstein’s thrilling Chichester Psalms. The whole concert was recorded by BBC Radio 3 and scheduled for broadcast on Tuesday 19th September at 7.30pm.

The 2017 Festival was particularly notable for the large number of outstanding young performers we presented across the two weeks. In addition to the twenty-one competitors were – four Bach Corner recitalists (it was particularly good to welcome Lukas Euler from Leipzig, winner of the Bach Prize in the 2016 Northern Ireland International Organ Competition; one of our partner organisations), Julian Trevelyan’s late-night concert in St Michael’s Church, the organists and instrumentalists from the Royal Academy of Music who showcased ensemble works in the Royal Festival Hall and the superb Royal Academy of Music Chamber Orchestra who accompanied the concerto finalists at St John’s Smith Square. Adding to this were all the young students from Beaumont School in collaboration with the Young People’s Puppet Theatre who presented A Midsummer Night’s dream in the Maltings Theatre – the climax of a three month long project during which all the puppets, sets and designs were made and led by YPPT director, Jeremy Duschenes.

As we move forward, next season’s Saturday Concert Series opens on 23rd September at 5.30pm when all the 2017 prizewinners return for a special performance in the Cathedral. Several concerts will include music for organ and other instruments/singers, including the Gramophone Award nominated choir from Sidney Sussex College Cambridge under the direction of David Skinner. For full details of the concert series, please see the website. The AGM recital (February 24th) presents two very popular “St Albans” organists in music for four hands: Simon Johnson, organist of St Paul’s Cathedral and recently appointed Sub-Organist of Westminster Abbey, Peter Holder.

Looking further ahead but well into the planning stage is the 30th Festival in 2019 (diary note: July 8-20) - another significant milestone in the history of the IOFS.

David Titterington

The winners of the 29th St Albans International Organ Competition in July will return to the city on 23rd September for a Gala Concert in St Albans Cathedral. Thomas Gaynor, winner of the Gold Medal, first prize and the audience prize, is still in his early twenties but already performs around the world. Born in New Zealand, he is a regular recitalist there and in Australia. He studies and works in New York State. Thomas will play his interpretations of JS Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in A minor (BWV 543), Danse Macabre by Camille Saint-Saëns, and Jean-Baptiste Robin’s Regard vers l’Aïr. Ágoston Tóka from Hungary won Second Prize for Interpretation and the Peter Hurford Bach Prize. He will perform two further works by the great JS Bach. Sora Yu, who is from South Korea and is now studying in Leipzig, received the Douglas May Award. She will perform Maurice Duruflé’s Choral varié sur le Veni Creator. The fourth and final talented young organist in this truly international Concert will be Lotta-Sophie Harder from Germany, winner of the Philip Moore Prize for the best interpretation of British composer Philip Moore’s Dialogues for Organ – she will perform this piece, which was commissioned especially for this year’s Festival. The concert will open the new season of Saturday afternoon concerts. Details can be found at www.organfestival.com. Music lovers in and around St Albans will not want to miss this event. There will be a collection to support the 30th St Albans International Organ Competition in July 2019.

Peter Craik

Winners’ Recital

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NEWSLETTER AUTUMN 2017 www.organfestival.com

A warm welcome is extended to the following people who have joined the society in recent months:

Patrick & Alison Cliffe St AlbansSue Dyson St AlbansClorinda Goodman RedbournHiroko Izuta Funabashi, JapanMartin Owen ChelseaPamela Shadlock EalingGraham Taylor Radlett

SubscriptionsSubscriptions for members other than Supporters for the year 2017-2018 become due on 1st October. Members who have chosen to pay by cheque will receive a reminder by a separate mailing. Reminders will also be sent to those paying by credit card or online. If you joined in the period 1st October 2016 until now you have nothing to pay until October 2018.

Email AddressesPlease will all members who have recently acquired or changed an email address contact me so that you can be sent timely reminders of all the society’s activities.

Roger TriggTel: 01923 774293Email: roger@triggmail.org.uk

Membership Matters 100 Club Lottery

June1st prize £86 No 15 David

Titterington

2nd prize £43 No 36 Gordon Frier

July1st prize £86 No 13 Linda Hamling

2nd prize £43 No 53 Michael Bowden

August1st prize £86 No 10 Roy Cervenka

2nd prize £43 No 32 Stephen & Mary-Jane Boffey

If you are not yet a member of the 100 Club Lottery, now is a good time to join! It’s a great way of supporting the Festival and gives you the chance of winning a cash prize each month. If you would like an application form please let me know.

Philip Vaughanpcvaughan@btinternet.com01727 811443

Choir and Organ is delighted to offer you free access to the digital edition of Choir & Organ. Readers should complete the form on the page to read the article.

Please use the following link to read the article.

http://www.rhinegold.co.uk/rhinegold-pub-lishing/magazines/choir-organ/36423-2/

Choir and Organ

The prize-winners since the last newsletter are:

2016

October1st prize £86 No 40 Christine

Marshall

2nd prize £43 No 31 David Wakefield

November 1st prize £86 No 5 Malcolm Two

2nd prize £43 No 19 Sue Vaughan

December1st prize £87 No 36 Gordon Frier

2nd prize £44 No 53 Michael Bowden

Christmas Bonus

£100 No 49 Mike Johnson

2017

January1st prize £86 No 5 Malcolm Two

2nd prize £43 No 32 Stephen & Mary-Jane Boffey

February1st prize £86 No 55 Ruth & Andy

Hayman

2nd prize £43 No 23 Lesley King

March1st prize £86 No 47 Mike Johnson

2nd prize £43 No 13 Linda Hamling

April1st prize £86 No 3 Nicholas &

Susan Hare

2nd prize £43 No 4 Malcolm Two

May1st prize £86 No 5 Malcolm Two

2nd prize £43 No 62 Barbara Hogg

Competition entrants with the Mayor of the City and District of St Albans

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NEWSLETTER AUTUMN 2017 www.organfestival.com

EditorThe board would very much like to hear from a member who would like to take on the role of editor.

The tasks are to produce 2/3 newsletters per year in consultation with the Chair and the Artistic Director.

This involves sourcing articles of interest, editing where necessary, proof reading, managing deadlines and contributing to the overall design of the finished product.

Some experience of desktop publishing would be an advantage.

Distribution of the Newsletter is now almost entirely electronic with only a handful of hard copies posted to those members who do not use email.

Please contact the administrator in the first instance to register your interest. administrator@organfestival.com

AfterwordOver a month on from the Festival now, it is wonderful to have the chance to reflect on my experiences of the 2017 St Albans International Competition. Like all competitions, it was not “fun” as such; they are hugely physically and emotionally taxing, as well as being a rather drawn out culmination of many months of con-centrated work. However, where St Albans sticks out for me is that all of the staff and volunteers go far out of their way to make sure that the competitors are happy, comfort-able, and in the best possible place to do what they came for; that is, to make music. This was my experience both this year, and during my previous attempt in 2015.

It was a treat to play the many fine organs during the course of the competition. Getting used to the different

dimensions and actions of such a number of organs in a short time is always a challenge, especially when they are in vastly different styles. The organ at Christ Church, Spitalfields certainly remains in my mind as a scary instrument to play (but the beauty of its action and sound more than makes up for that little bit of anxiety!) The different keyboard compasses really do mess with your peripheral sense of what is where. We all had a chuckle when we saw a picture of Bach on an A4 sheet of paper covering up the extra pedal notes that are particular only to old English organs.The most challenging and exciting round for me was the concerto final at St John’s, Smith Square. I had real trouble with the acoustic at first, as I was watching the conductor’s beat

through the TV screen, but hearing the orchestra late. Sian Edwards was a complete dream to work with, being both direct and encouraging, as well as crystal clear with her gestures. After a discouraging rehearsal in which I was really struggling to make music, Sian and I had a good chat and we figured out that I should completely disregard the (late) sound of the orchestra and just play on her beat; it really is quite amazing how slowly sound moves. In the end I was very happy with how it came off, and really enjoyed playing with such a good orchestra for the first time.The most fun I had while performing was with Saint-Saëns’ ‘Danse Macabre’ at the Abbey. The flexibility and ingenious design of the Abbey organ really did impress me. After all of the heavy repertoire of the previous rounds, it was rather nice to be able to let my hair down a bit!

I plan to remain in Rochester, NY in the short to medium term. Currently, I am a student in the DMA (Doctor of Musical Arts) programme at the Eastman School of Music, from where I hope to have graduated within two years. My partner (David Baskeyfield, 1st prize interpretation 2011) and I have a home in Rochester, which is proving to serve as a wonderful base for our musical endeavours, as well as our budding green fingers and mini-farming aspirations. I will continue my work as Associate Director of Music at Christ Episcopal Church in Pittsford, NY. Incidentally, David is the Director of Music there, too; we like to joke that it is the only church in the world with two St Albans firsts on staff!

One of the most important parts of the St Albans prize package is the North-American man-agement offered by Philip Truckenbrod Concert Artists. Charles Miller, the director, has been wonderful, and he’s doing all he can to get my name ‘out there’ as a recent prize winner, and as somebody that recital series might like to consider as a guest artist. There are a few concerts being discussed for next year, and two tours to the UK/Europe in the Summer of 2018! Please feel free to check on my website to see announcements of upcoming recitals - thomasgaynor.com This all really is a dream come true, and I can’t thank enough, all those who have put in many long hours to make the Festival and competition work as well as it does.

Thomas Gaynor

Thomas Gaynor with the Competiton Judges

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NEWSLETTER AUTUMN 2017

Lesley King addressing IOF members in the Speaker’s State Rooms in the Palace of Westminster

Young People’s Puppet Theatre - A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Beaumont School, St. AlbansAmici Voices with Naomi Matsui

Royal Academy of Music Chamber Orchestra conducted by Sian Edwards

The Choirs of St Paul’s Cathedral, Temple Church and St Albans Cathedral

St Mary Undercroft Organ with Pier Damiano Peretti