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competition founder
Former Director of Music for Radio France, producer of radio programs and author of books of interviews with Olivier Messiaen, Claude Samuel (1931 - 2020) was particularly involved in the fields of musical creation and competition. He created the Olivier-Messiaen Competition in 1967.
President of the jury
Professor of organ at the Conservatoire Royal in Brussels, organist at the city’s Église du Sablon and organ curator for the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels (Bozar), Benoît Mernier is also a composer. His works include an opera, Frühlings Erwachen, premiered at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie (Brussels) and revived at the Opéra du Rhin (Strasbourg and Mulhouse).
JURY
Organist on the Cavaillé-Coll grand organ (1863) at the Santa Maria del Coro basilica in San Sebastián, Spain, Loreto Aramendi currently teaches at the Francisco Escudero Conservatoire in San Sebastián.
Professor of organ at the Hochschule für Musik in Munich, following similar posts in Saarbrücken and Stuttgart, Bernhard Haas is a specialist in contemporary music and has published theoretical works on Bach’s Two-Part Inventions and Die neue Tonalität von Schubert bis Webern.
In addition to serving as Associate Professor of Organ on the faculty of the Eastman School of Music, and his new position as International Consultant in Organ Studies at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, UK, Nathan Laube’s extensive recital career includes major venues spanning four continents, with appearances at the Vienna Konzerthaus, Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, Berlin Philharmonie, Dortmund Konzerthaus, Royal Festival Hall in London, the Sejong Center in Seoul and the concert halls of Philadelphia, San Francisco, Dallas, Seattle, Los Angeles…).
Composer, former student of Olivier Messiaen at the Conservatoire de Paris, pensioner of the Académie de France in Rome and winner of several prizes, Alain Louvier also has an eminent career as a conservatoire director (Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse in Paris from 1986 to 1991 and Boulogne-Billancourt from 2009 to 2013) and teacher, particularly in musical analysis at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse in Paris from 1991 to 2009.
A former student of Olivier Messiaen at the Conservatoire de Paris, Loïc Mallié followed him at the organ console at the Trinité in Paris, where is he now honorary organist. Also a composer and improviser, he has taught at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse in Lyon and at Musikene in San Sebastián (Spain).
Organ professor at the Conservatoire Ardenne-Métropole in Charleville-Mézières, Pascale Rouet is also the editor of the French-language journal Orgues nouvelles. She contributed to the contemporary music section in the new edition of the Guide de la musique d’orgue (Fayard, 2012).