Who are the finalists of the 50th Organ Festival?

Last night marked the 50th edition of the Organ Festival in Haarlem was graced with a concert in the Grote or St Bavo church by organists Ton Koopman and Olivier Latry. The voluminous book The Haarlem Essays gepresented, detailing the renaissance of the improvisation competition founded in 1951. The atmosphere in the sold-out church was supreme.

To the - broadcast live on Radio 4 - To make the concert more attractive for the audience, the performances of the two organ champions and their registrars were shown on video screens. On these, we saw Ton Koopman agile and passionate as he played some works by Johann Sebastian Bach and his son Carl Philipp Emanuel. That in his enthusiasm he sometimes missed a note or got rhythmically tangled up, we wholeheartedly forgave him, because of his adventurous and lively playing. A total contrast to the dashing Koopman was his almost 20 years younger French colleague Olivier Latry, who cut his teeth on compositions by two of his compatriots: Litanies by Jehain Alain and L'Ascension By Olivier Messiaen.

Latry proved a beacon of calm. With almost military precision, he interpreted the somewhat jolly, folk-music-like notes of Alain and also managed to animate the pensive sounds of Messiaen. Combining a subtle sense of timbre with a balanced rhetoric, the Frenchman led us into the last movement of L'Ascension with intimately spun sounds almost literally to heaven.

The organ festival was founded in 1951 as an improvisation competition and still forms the core of the biennial event since 1986. This year, 21 candidates from seven different countries signed up, recording their ability.

The entries were judged anonymously by a three-member jury, which selected eight participants: David Cassan, Jacob Lekkerkerker, Geerten Liefting, Harmen Trimp, Lukas Grimm, Luke Mayernik, Morten Ladehoff and Tobias Wittman. - Only young men, then; ladies do not yet seem to have embraced organ playing en masse.

In three rounds, the gentlemen compete for the coveted prize, based on as many themes specially composed for the competition. Austrian organist/composer Hans Haselböck (himself a three-time winner between 1958 and 1960) was responsible for the theme of the first round (last Monday, 14 July).

The second theme (Tuesday 15 July) will be by Dutch composer Roderik de Man, and for the finale (Friday 18 July) the Organ Festival managed to enlist Louis Andriessen. Although he is the son of the renowned Haarlem organist and composer Hendrik Andriessen, this will be his first ever organ composition. His theme only serves to inspire the three final candidates.

Who the three chosen ones are will remain a secret until the final, even from the judges. The final rounds, by the way, will be judged by a fresh team of five experts - including one woman, Slovakian Zuzana Ferjencíková (winner in 2004).

All determine their verdict anonymously: the candidates are not mentioned by name and play invisible to the jury. The order of play is also different in both preliminaries, with the judges only naming the song of their favourite candidate afterwards. So it remains a surprise until the end who makes it to the final.

Although? The public will know more than the judges this Friday, as they get to present their own prize on behalf of Flentrop Organ Building. To this end, forms are handed out at the start with the names of the three finalists and the order of their attendance. When chairman Stephen Taylor announces after the judges' deliberations that number 1, 2 or 3 have won, he knows so not and the audience well who it's all about. - It will be an exciting final in all respects!

Update: The jury has exceptionally admitted FOUR candidates to the final.

18-7-2014: the audience prize went to German Lukas Grimm, the organ competition prize was awarded by the jury to Frenchman David Cassan.