Improvisation Competition · since 1951
One hour before, they get the theme.
The International Improvisation Competition, founded in 1951, is the most important component of the Organ Festival. Open to professional organists with concert improvisation experience. There is no age limit.
Winner 2026
Bernhard Hauk
On Friday 24 July 2026, Bernhard Hauk (D) was proclaimed the winner of the 2026 edition. The jury unanimously considered him to be the best improviser in the final. He won the Piet Kee Prize (€5,000).
The audience prize (€1,000) was awarded to Alex Leonardi (USA); the prize for the best improvisation of the competition (€750) was won by Andy Brown (USA) for his performance in the second round with the theremin, played by Carolina Eyck.
Bernhard Hauk will be invited to perform a recital during the next edition, 15 to 29 July 2028. Olivier Latry, organist at Notre-Dame in Paris, will be that year’s artist in residence.
How it works
The biennial competition consists of a preliminary round, for which a recording of 5 improvisations was required, and two rounds and a Finale in Haarlem. The participants receive only one hour prior to their performance (without using a keyboard instrument) for each round 2 assignments. They improvise not only as soloists but also with other disciplines or with other musicians.
Next competition: 17 (first round), 19 (second round) and 21 July 2028 (final round).
Round 1 · 2026
Try the first assignment.
- Improvise 3 Monodies (one-voice melodies) using these registrations: Borstwerk: Regaal 8’ Nasard 1 1/3’ · Hoofdwerk: Prestant 8’ · Rugwerk: Sexquialtera (as main color, stops may be added)
- A Toccata based on György Kurtág (*1926): Vízözön-szirénák – Waiting for Noah
Pull a stop first. Without a stop, an organ stays silent.
Theme 2 “Ricercar” from the 2026 preliminary round, composed by Jeremy Joseph (Vienna). Sound: synthesised from the four stops, not a recording.
Round 2
Wednesday 22 July in the Josephkerk. The participants played together with theremin player Carolina Eyck, on the basis of the poem ‘Musik: Atem der Statuen’ by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926), and improvised on a rhythm composed by Loïc Mallé on request of the Haarlem Festival. Total playing time was 20 minutes per candidate.
Musik: Atem der Statuen. Vielleicht:
Stille der Bilder. Du Sprache wo Sprachen
enden. Du Zeit
die senkrecht steht auf der Richtung
vergehender Herzen.
Gefühle zu wem? O du der Gefühle
Wandlung in was? — in hörbare Landschaft.
Du Fremde: Musik. Du uns entwachsener
Herzraum. Innigstes unser,
das, uns übersteigend, hinausdrängt, —
heiliger Abschied:
da uns das Innre umsteht
als geübteste Ferne, als andre
Seite der Luft:
rein,
riesig
nicht mehr bewohnbar.
Music: breathing of statues. Possibly:
stillness in pictures. Speech where speech
ends. Time upright and poised
upon the coastline of our passions.
Feelings for whom? You are the transformation
of all feeling into – what? . . . audible landscape.
You stranger: music. Heart’s space
that’s outgrown us. Innermost us
which it’s scaled, surmounted, gone beyond
into holiest absence:
where what’s within surrounds us
the way the most skillful horizon does,
or the other side of the air,
pure,
immense,
no longer lived in.
Translation: William H. Gass
Final round
Bernhard Hauk, Alex Leonardi and Andy Brown had to improvise a piece in three parts, entitled ‘Past – Present – Future’, using themes composed by Zuzana Ferjenčíková. The second task was to continue a sound clip of Georgian singers performing a chant. What they did not know: during their improvisation, they would be interrupted by a recording of ‘Yesternow’ by Miles Davis (1926–1991).
Participants 2026
Selected by a preliminary jury of Zuzana Ferjencíková, Geerten van de Wetering and Jan Hage.
- Andy Brown (USA)
- Daniel Carroll (USA)
- Jack Day (UK/D)
- Ethan Haman (USA/D)
- Alex Leonardi (USA)
- Hubert Trojanek (PL)
- Goetz Bienert (D)
- Bernhard Hauk (D)
Jury 2026
- Jean-Pierre Leguay (F)
- Franz Danksagmüller (D)
- Mathilde Wantenaar (NL)
- Inger-Lise Ulsrud (NO)
- Samuel Liégeon (F)
- Ansgar Wallenhorst (D, chairman)
Hall of fame
- 2026Bernhard HaukDuitsland
- 2024Enno GröhnDuitsland
- 2022Geen winnaar
- 2021Gabriele AgrimontiItalië
- 2020Geen concours
- 2018Geerten van de WeteringNederland
- 2016Geerten LieftingNederland
- 2014David CassanFrankrijk
- 2012Paul GoussotFrankrijk
- 2010Samuel LiégeonFrankrijk
- 2008Gerben MourikNederland
- 2006Chiel Jan van Hofwegen & Robert KovácsNederland · Oostenrijk
- 2004Zuzana FerjenčíkováSlowakije
- 2002Sietze de VriesNederland
- 2000Ansgar WallenhorstDuitsland
- 1998John TerwalNederland
- 1996Karl-Bernhardin KropfDuitsland
- 1994Tomasz Adam NowakPolen