Olivier Messiaen international competition

PRESENTATION OF THE COMPETITION

Originally a contemporary piano competition, the Olivier Messiaen International Competition was established in 1967 as part of the Royan Festival and held in Paris until 2007. Bruno Messina, Director of the Public Establishment of Cultural Cooperation (EPCC) Arts en Isère Dauphiné Alpes (AIDA), revived the competition in line with the artistic policy of the Maison Messiaen, an artists’ residence in Matheysine.

The Auditorium-Orchestre national de Lyon was considered the ideal partner to accompany the relaunch of this international event, which in 2019 was dedicated to organ performance and presided over by Claude Samuel, founder of the Olivier Messiaen Competition, former head of music at Radio France and author of several books of interviews with the composer. The organ is closely linked with Olivier Messiaen’s work, as for over seventy years he was the organist at the Trinité church in Paris, playing the Cavaillé-Coll grand organ. This instrument is also an important facet of the identity of the Auditorium de Lyon, which houses a remarkable example that is unique in France.

Over the years of the Festival Berlioz held in La Côte-Saint-André, AIDA – which organises this festival, the Maison Messiaen and, since January 1st, 2022, the Festival Messiaen in Pays de la Meije – and the Auditorium-Orchestre national de Lyon have forged a close artistic collaboration. What better venue than the Auditorium de Lyon, with its Cavaillé-Coll organ, to host organists from all over the world? Set in the Auditorium de Lyon in 1977, this 82-stop organ was originally built in 1878 for the Palais du Trocadéro in Paris before being modernised and transferred to the Palais de Chaillot. The world premieres of many works have been performed on the organ, including Les Corps Glorieux by Messiaen, performed by the composer himself on April 15, 1945. Restored to its original splendour in 2013 (by Michel Gaillard at Aubertin), it is the only concert hall grand organ in France outside Paris.

With new artistic dynamism and a new rhythm, the competition is now held every year to maximise its national and international impact. Starting in 2022, an edition devoted to the organ (in partnership with the Auditorium-Orchestre national de Lyon) alternates with an edition dedicated to the piano, the competition’s original instrument (in partnership with the MC2 in Grenoble).

The Olivier Messiaen International Competition is sponsored by the EPCC Arts en Isère Dauphiné Alpes (AIDA), and organised in partnership with the Auditorium-Orchestre national de Lyon.

Avec le soutien de la Fondation Olivier Messiaen, abritée par la Fondation de France, et de la Fondation de L’AO placée sous l’égide de la Fondation Bullukian, reconnue d’utilité publique, et de la Sacem.

Avec le soutien de l’entreprise Orgue Allen France.

Contact : concours@olivier-messiaen.eu

2022 EDITION

For 2022, AIDA is working with the Auditorium-Orchestre national de Lyon to organise a competition of organ performance.

The competition places particular emphasis on original composition, as candidates will be required to perform a new work commissioned from the composer in the final round.

As well as Messiaen’s works, the competition is open to other repertoires to establish a week of competition at the highest level, widely accessible to music lovers and anyone who is curious to find out more about this instrument-orchestra at the level of performance you expect from an international contest, with a jury of international figures specialising in Messiaen and the organ.

The Olivier Messiaen International Organ Competition is open to organists under the age of 30 from all over the world.
It will involve four rounds, three of them in public, taking place in Lyon from 1 to 5 November 2022. The prizes consist of financial awards and invitations to perform in the Auditorium-Orchestre national de Lyon season and AIDA programme.

As a counterpoint to the competition, a concert will be given in the Auditorium de Lyon the evening before the final, on Friday 4 November at 8 pm, by members of the jury.

2022 Edition

Competition programme & timetable

2022 Edition

President and jury members

2022 Edition

Competition rules

Le Jury

Professeur d’orgue au Conservatoire royal de Bruxelles, titulaire de l’orgue de l’église du Sablon de cette ville et conservateur de l’orgue du palais des Beaux-Arts de Bruxelles (Bozar), Benoît Mernier est également compositeur, auteur notamment d’un opéra, Frühlings Erwachen, créé au Théâtre royal de la Monnaie et repris à l’Opéra du Rhin (Strasbourg et Mulhouse).

Organiste titulaire du grand orgue Cavaillé-Coll (1863) de la basilique Santa Maria del Coro de Saint-Sébastien, en Espagne, Loreto Aramendi enseigne actuellement au Conservatoire Francisco-Escudero de Saint-Sébastien.

Professeur d’orgue à la Hochschule für Musik de Munich, après avoir occupé des postes similaires à Sarrebruck et Stuttgart, Bernhard Haas est un spécialiste de la musique d’aujourd’hui et a publié des ouvrages théoriques sur les Inventions à deux voix de Bach et sur La Nouvelle Tonalité de Schubert à Webern.

Professeur associé d’orgue à l’Eastman School of Music (Université de Rochester, États-Unis), Nathan Laube est « International Consultant in Organ Studies » au Conservatoire de Birmingham (Royaume-Uni). Il mène une carrière intense sur les plus grandes scènes américaines (Philadelphie, San Francisco, Dallas, Seattle, Los Angeles…) et mondiales (Konzerthaus de Vienne, Philharmonie de l’Elbe à Hambourg, Philharmonie de Berlin, Royal Festival Hall de Londres, Sejong Center à Séoul…).

Compositeur, ancien élève d’Olivier Messiaen au Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris (CNSMD), pensionnaire de l’Académie de France à Rome et titulaire de plusieurs prix, Alain Louvier mène également une brillante carrière de directeur de conservatoire (CNSMD de Paris de 1986 à 1991 et Boulogne-Billancourt de 2009 à 2013) et de professeur, en particulier d’analyse musicale au CNSMD de Paris de 1991 à 2009.

Élève d’Olivier Messiaen en harmonie au Conservatoire de Paris, Loïc Mallié lui a succédé à la tribune de la Trinité, à Paris, dont il est aujourd’hui organiste honoraire. Également compositeur et improvisateur, il a enseigné au Conservatoire national supérieur musique et danse de Lyon et à Musikene à Saint-Sébastien (Espagne).

Professeur d’orgue au Conservatoire Ardenne-Métropole (Charleville-Mézières), Pascale Rouet est également rédactrice en chef de la revue francophone Orgues nouvelles. Elle a collaboré à la nouvelle édition du Guide de la musique d’orgue (Fayard, 2012) pour le versant contemporain.

LES SEPT CANDIDATS RETENUS

Sur 18 postulants venus de France, Allemagne, Biélorussie, Italie, Pologne, Suisse, des Pays-Bas et du Japon, 7 ont été retenus pour participer aux épreuves du Concours International Olivier Messiaen du 1er au 5 novembre 2022. La sélection a été faite de façon totalement anonyme par plusieurs membres du jury, sur écoute d’enregistrements.

Born in Milan in 2001, Luca Akaeda Santesson won the 2022 Jean-Louis Florentz international organ competition. He studied organ with Jean-François Hatton at the Conservatoire Claude-Debussy in Paris’s 17th arrondissement, and then with Yves Lafargue and Lionel Avot at the Lyon regional conservatoire (where he also studied harpsichord with Catherine Latzarus), before entering the Conservatoire National Supérieur Musique et Danse in Lyon in 2019, taking classes with François Espinasse and Liesbeth Schlumberger. He is the organist at the church of Saint-Denis-et-Saint-Augustin-de-la-Croix-Rousse in Lyon.

Born in 1996 in Osaka (Japan), Kasumi Hamano graduated with a degree in business administration from Kwansei Gakuin University while taking private organ lessons with Akiko Sakakura. He then developed his organ studies in Pieter van Dijk’s class at the Conservatorium in Amsterdam. In 2021, he won second prize and the public prize at the Jean-Louis-Florentz international competition at the church of Saint-Eustache in Paris. He is the organist and pianist at the Mennonite church (Doopsgezinde Vermaning) in Zaandam (Netherlands) and performs in the Netherlands and France.

Born in France in 1997, Joffrey Mialon studied organ at the Grenoble regional conservatoire with Denis Bordage and then at the Institut Supérieur des Arts in Toulouse with Willem Jansen, before entering the Lyon national conservatoire in the class of François Espinasse and Liesbeth Schlumberger. He graduated in musicology from the Université Grenoble-Alpes, and has also studied piano and piano accompaniment.

Born in 1995 in Offenbach-am-Main (Germany), Lukas Nagel studied liturgical music and organ, first at the Hochschule für Musik in Mainz and then at the Musikhochschule in Stuttgart in Helmut Deutsch’s organ class. In February 2021, he graduated with a master’s in liturgical music with top grades and with distinction in organ literature performance. As well as his regular organ performances, he gives concerts as a chamber musician, continuo player, choir leader and orchestral conductor. He taught organ literature at the Musikhochschule in Stuttgart in the 2021/2022 winter semester, replacing Helmut Deutsch. He is currently the organist at the Christuskirche in Stuttgart.

Born in France in 1996, Pierre-François Purson studied music from 2011 to 2021 at the regional conservatoire in Caen, taking piano with Julien Le Prado and organ with Erwan Le Prado. He took a double degree programme at the Université de Rouen and the Caen conservatoire in piano and organ performance between 2018 and 2021. He has won second prize at the Northern Ireland International Organ Competition and the Kurt Bossler International Organ Competition in Freiburg and has just started a master’s at the Lyon national conservatoire in the organ class of François Espinasse and Liesbeth Schlumberger.

Born in France in 1997, Tom Rioult is a trombone, musical analysis and organ graduate from the Caen conservatoire, where he was taught by Erwan Le Prado. In 2021, he entered the master’s program at the Lyon Conservatoire national supérieur musique et danse, in the organ class of François Espinasse and Liesbeth Schlumberger. He is co-titular organist of the Lisieux Cathedral, and teaches at the conservatoires of Lisieux and Vire. He won the Kurt-Bossler Competitions in Freiburg (Germany) and Armagh (Northern Ireland), and came second during the 2019 Saint-Albans International Organ Competition (England).

Born in Japan in 1993, Natsumi Sawa graduated from the Senzoku Gakuen Music University, where she studied organ with Yumiko Ogina and piano with Masako Yoshitake. After a year of further training, she became an intern in the Minatomirai concert hall in Yokohama, where she was taught by Hatsumi Miura. In 2018, she was admitted in the organ class of François Espinasse and Liesbeth Schlumberger at the Lyon Conservatoire national supérieur musique et danse. She also studies harpsichord with Yves Rechsteiner, improvisation with Gabriel Marghieri, piano with Eric Dartel and free improvisation with Jean-Marc Foltz.

Le palmarès

Les lauréats de l’édition 2022 :

GRAND PRIX OLIVIER MESSIAEN : Lukas Nagel
DEUXIÈME PRIX : Luca Akaeda Santesson
TROISIÈME PRIX : Pierre-Francois Purson
QUATRIÈME PRIX : Kasumi Hamano
PRIX POUR LA MEILLEURE INTERPRÉTATION DES ŒUVRES D’OLIVIER MESSIAEN : Luca Akaeda Santesson
PRIX POUR LA MEILLEURE INTERPRÉTATION DE L’ŒUVRE NOUVELLE : Lukas Nagel
PRIX DU PUBLIC : Kasumi Hamano