Born in Austria, as a conductor, organist, and composer, Martin Haselböck has distinguished himself in many diverse ways in international music life. After studies in Vienna and Paris, and winning international competitions, he earned first an outstanding reputation as a solo organist, performing under the direction of conductors Claudio Abbado, Lorin Maazel, Muti, and Stein, as well as making over fifty solo CDs.

While in his official role as Court Organist for Vienna and responsible for an extensive repertoire of classical church music, Martin Haselböck began an intense commitment to conducting. This led to his founding in 1985 the now-famous Vienna Akademie Ensemble. With this orchestra, he established a year-round cycle of concerts for the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in the Great Hall of the Vienna Musikverein. It has now become a favorite of guest artists from the music centers of Europe and Japan.

Over 60 CDs, with repertoire from Baroque to 20th century vocal and instrumental works under the direction of Martin Haselböck, have been released. Such a prodigious output of excellent recordings has earned him the Deutsches Schallplatten critics’ prize as well as the Hungarian Liszt Prize.

Martin Haselböck has also been a guest conductor for numerous orchestras : Vienna Symphony Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin, Dresdner Philharmonie, Flemish National Philharmonic, Radio Orchestra Hilversum, and the National Philharmonics of Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Slovenia. Over the past year in the USA, he made his conducting debut with the Pittsburgh Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. By now, the main focus of his work lies in the exchange between Baroque and Classical works. With the Hamburger Symphoniker, he leads a yearly cycle with works of Viennese classics in the Hamburg Musikhalle. With numerous festivals–those of the Cologne Philharmonic, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, MozartFest in Würzburg-he has been a guest with his Wiener Akademie as Artist-In-Residence. Slated also in the next two seasons are symphonic guest conducting engagements with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Detroit Symphony-the last two being debuts.

Since his debut with the Händel Festival in Göttingen, Martin Haselböck’s career as an opera conductor is also unfolding. He has conducted several times at the Zürich Opera, and he performed Mozart operas in new productions in the Theatre im Pfalzbau Ludwigshafen for the first time in Germany with historic instruments. His Don Giovanni in 1991 earned him the Mozart Prize of the City of Prague. In 2000-2001 he created with the Wiener Akademie new productions of Georg Frideric Handel’s Acis and Galatea, Gassmann’s La Contessina, and Haydn’s Die Feuersbrunst. 2002 followed with the first productions with the Festival in Schwetzingen (Benda’s Il buon marito) and Salzburg (G.F. Handel’s Radamisto). In 2004, he will lead productions of G.F. Handel’s Il trionfo del tempo (Salzburger Festspiel), Mozart’s Il re pastore (Klangbogen Wien), G.F. Handel’s Radamisto (touring to Spain, Istanbul, Venice, Israel Festival, and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam), and a concert version of Nicola Porpora’s Il Gedeone for Musica Angelica in Los Angeles.

When not conducting, Martin Haselböck is busy unearthing long lost vocal/instrumental works in the dusty archives of Kiev and Vienna, finding unpublished gems by Biber, Nicola Porpora, Johann Joseph Fux, Muffat, and the Bach family. These he transcribes and resurrects in historical re-creations for his Wiener Akademie Ensemble and festivals around the world.

http://www.haselboeck.org/jart/prj3/wak/haselboeck.jart?content-id=1275039074491&rel=de

Christina Harmon resides in Dallas, Texas, where she is Organist at Park Cities Baptist Church, one of the largest in the area. She is a graduate of Oberlin Conservatory of Music and Southern Methodist University and has done doctoral study at Union Theological Seminary and the University of North Texas. Additional study has been at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. Her teachers have been Robert Anderson, Robert Baker, Dale Peters, Garth Peacock, Guy Bovet, Bernadette Dufourcet, Naji Hakim, Daniel Roth, and Jean and Marie-Louise Langlais.

Christina Harmon’s pieces, published by Vivace Press, Plymouth Publishing Co., and Harmony Press, have been given outstanding reviews by several individuals and publications. Last year she received second prize in the U. S. Naval Academy composition competition, and in March, 2003 she was awarded first prize in the Potomac American Guild of Organists anthem competition. In addition, she is featured on three c.d.’s, the first as organist with the choir of St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church in Dallas ; the second as a composer on the c.d., “Summershimmer” on the Hester Park label, featuring organist Barbara Harbach playing new works by American composers ; and the third a c.d. of her own arrangements of Christmas carols for organ and trumpets entitled Christmas in Dallas. Her works have been performed in the U. S. and Europe by Marie-Bernadette Dufourcet and others.

As founder of the French Organ Music Seminar she has built the seminar, in which organists from all over the world convene in Paris to study French organ music at the great French churches and cathedrals, into a thriving event which last summer included over sixty organists. Since 1989, as an outgrowth of the seminar, she has been producing and editing videotapes in France, first of the last year of Jean Langlais’ life, and more recently of the organs at Sainte-Clotilde and Saint-Sulpice, where Langlais, Franck, Tournemire, Widor, and Dupré were organists. These videotapes are remarkable for their coverage of French organs and organ music history and include Langlais playing and teaching at his home and at the Schola Cantorum, Marie-Louise Langlais teaching at the organ of Sainte Clotilde, and Daniel Roth explaining the organ and organists of Saint Sulpice. These videos are now available for sale through the Organ Historical Society.

In addition to her duties as Organist and Composer-in-Residence at Park Cities Baptist Church, a church of 9,000 members, she teaches organ for the Dallas County Community College District and maintains an active organ class. Her students come from all over the Dallas/Fort Worth area, and some have gone on to win awards and scholarships in organ.

In recent years Ms Harmon has been in demand as a workshop accompanist and has been invited to serve as the featured organist/composer at workshops and seminars. Christina was Jason Ranton’s organ teacher at the time of his death.

After starting organ with Jean Costa, Gilles Harlé worked successively with Xavier Darasse (gold medal CNR of Toulouse), Odile Bailleux (Paris) and Michael Radulescu (Vienna).

It also carries out studies and writing analysis (CNR Toulouse) Conductors (CNR of Rueil-Malmaison and Hochschule für Musik in Vienna) and harpsichord with Noëlle Spieth (CNR of Paris).

He has won international competitions in Toulouse (1981), Bruges (1982) and Innsbruck (1986).

Parallel to a concert career in France and abroad, it is expected to play with various ensembles such as La Grande Ecurie and La Chambre du Roy, La Chapelle Royale, Sagittarius, Young Soloists, Ars Nova, The Simphonie Marais .

Holder organ Billettes (Paris), he currently teaches organ at the Conservatoire de Meaux and harpsichord at the Conservatory of Bourg-la-Reine.

Ji-Youn Han was born in Seoul (Korea).

At the age of seven, she receives her first piano lessons and only three years later she is awarded the second prize at the Junior Piano Competition in Korea. In 1993, when she starts to study at the Sung-Kyul Anyang Christian University, she decides to devote herself entirely to the organ. In 1997 she obtains the ” Bachelor of Arts”.

In 2003, after further artistic studies with Zsigmond Szathmary, she obtains the diploma of the Academy of Music in Freiburg / Breisgau. Under his direction, she presently continues a special soloist training.

Since 2003, she is also studying with Christophe Mantoux at the Regional Conservatory in Strasbourg. At the same time she is taking part in organ academies and master classes with renowned organists such as Pieter van Dijk, Michael Radulescu, Jean Boyer, Olivier Latry or Ludger Lohmann. Ji-Youn Han is giving a lot of recitals as a soloist, but she is also working with various ensembles such as the Roman Choir of the Freiburg University. She has recorded concerts for the Bavarian radio and also recorded a CD.

She is appointed organist at the protestant church in Denzlingen where she is responsible for the music program of the religious worships.

In June 2004, during the International Organ Week which was taking place for the 53rd time, Ji-Youn Han has been awarded the First Prize at the Nuremberg International Organ Competition.

William Haller is the Professor of Organ and Organ Literature at West Virginia University.

He received his DMA from North Texas State University and both his Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees from the Eastman School of Music. He was an organ student of David Craighead, Donald Willing, Helen Hewitt, Finn Videro, and Robert Glasgow ; he studied harpsichord with Robert Parmentier.

He is presently the organist at the Worthington United Methodist Church in Worthington, Ohio and is the former organist for the Columbus Symphony and Columbus Symphony Chorus. Dr. Haller’s past honors include winning the National Organ Playing Competition in Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1965, and tying for second place at the International Organ Playing Competition in Chartres, France in 1974.

He is a consultant in planning specifications and construction of organs built by Schantz, Delaware, and Schlicker (in Ohio, Delaware, Texas, and West Virginia).

Since 1982, William Haller has been a fellow of the American Guild of Organists.

Naji Subhy Paul Irénée HAKIM was born in Beirut , 31 October, 1955. He studied with J. Langlais and at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris – classes of R. Boutry, J.-C. Henry, M. Bitsch, R. Falcinelli, J. Castérède and S. Nigg, where he was awarded seven first prizes.

He is a licentiate teacher in organ from Trinity College of Music in London and won ten first prizes at international organ and composition competitions.

In 1991 he was awarded the Prix André Caplet from the Académie des Beaux-Arts. At first organist of the Basilique du Sacré-Coeur, Paris from 1985 until 1993, he then became organist of l’église de la Trinité, in succession to Olivier Messiaen, from 1993 until 2008. He is professor of musical analysis at the Conservatoire National de Région de Boulogne-Billancourt, and visiting professor at the Royal Academy of Music, London. He is a graduate of the École Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications in Paris, member of the Consociatio Internationalis Musicae Sacrae in Rome and Doctor honoris causa of the Pontifical University Saint-Esprit of Kaslik, Lebanon .

In 2007, His Holiness Pope Benediktus XVI has awarded Naji Hakim The Augustae crucis insigne pro Ecclesia et Pontifice, for his excellent commitment and work for the benefit of the Church and the Holy Father.

His works include instrumental music (organ, flute, bassoon, horn, trumpet, harp, guitar, violin, piano), symphonic music (Les Noces de l’Agneau, Hymne de l’Univers, Ouverture Libanaise, Påskeblomst, Augsburger Symphonie, four organ concertos, a violin concerto, a piano concerto), and vocal music (oratorio Saul de Tarse, cantata Phèdre, Magnificat and four masses).

http://www.najihakim.com/

Professor of Organ

Project Director, Eastman-Rochester Organ Initiative

Affiliate Faculty, Musicology Department

Hans Davidsson received his Soloist Diploma from the Conservatory of Göteborg, Sweden in 1985, having studied with Hans Fagius. A special interest in early music led to three years study with Jacques van Oortmerssen at the Sweelinck Conservatorium in Amsterdam and post-graduate research on North German Baroque organ music focused on Matthias Weckmann for the University of Göteborg. In September 1991, his thesis Matthias Weckmann : the Interpretation of his Organ Music (writing, edition and recording) was defended and he became the first doctor of music performance in Sweden.

Since 1974 he has given regular recitals in the Scandinavian countries including tours to England, Germany, the Netherlands and in the USA.

In 1986, he was appointed organ teacher at the School of Music, Göteborg University and appointed organ professor in 1988. Since 1989, he was responsible for the establishment of an organ center for research in performance practice and a program of organ instruments which was built according to historical principles (such as a full-grown North-German baroque organ, which was inaugurated in 2000).

From 1995-2000, he was the director of the Göteborg Organ Art Center, GOArt, and he is currently its General Artistic and Research Director as well as the Artistic Director of the Göteborg International Organ Academy. In 2001, he was appointed Professor of organ at the Eastman School Music, Rochester, NY, USA, and Project Director of the Eastman Rochester Organ Initiative (EROI).

In 2001 he was awarded the ÅForsk research prize (the Research Foundation of the ÅF Group), one of Sweden’s most distinguished research awards, and in January 2004 he was awarded the King’s medal, the highest national award in Sweden, for “significant accomplishments in musicology and music, primarily in the fields of organ research and organ education”.

Jean Guillou expresses his creativity through multiple facets of his art.

As a performer, he has considerably pushed back the technical limits of the instrumental performance of the organ. Also a pianist, he revived the piano Sonata of Julius Reubke, a pupil of Liszt who died at the age of 24 leaving two masterpieces: this piano Sonata and the organ Sonata that Jean Guillou was alone to have recorded and to have played together in concert. He also inaugurated the Borgato Pedal Piano in 2002 in Vicenza’s Teatro Olimpico and at the Royal Opera of Versailles,.

As a composer, since his early years he has elaborated and developed a singular musical world, of a strongly individual dramatic eloquence. He thus discovered a new nature with the sound pallete of the organ, and sought to make this come alive in confrontation with the piano (Colloques n°2, 4, 5, 7) or other instruments (violin, violoncello, flute, clarinet, percussions, marimba, voice), without forgetting 7 Concertos for Organ and Orchestra. His universe can also been discovered through 3 Symphonies, 2 piano Concertos, vocal music, chamber music (in particular the Trio for 3 violoncellos, the Quartet for oboe and cords), works for piano. His works are published by Schott Musik. .

As an improviser, he gives fresh impetus to an authentically creative improvisation, liberated from the set formats of the past.

Originator of a new organologic thought, he applied his innovative ideas through the organ of Alpe d’ Huez, of the “Chant d’Oiseau” in Brussels, of the Academy of Naples, Tonhalle of Zurich, and the Concert hall of Ténériffe. His project for Ténériffe of an organ divided into 8 cases and 12 sound bodies confers a dramaturgic dimension to the instrument, playable on a console of 4 keyboards, but also, with 8 other keyboards, by 9 organists. This idea was at the origin of his work “the Revolt of the Organ”, played in the first hearing on May 12, 2007 in Landsberg then on June 19 in Saint Eustache. The ultimate development of his design leads to the “Organ with Variable Structure”, of which one will find description in his book going through all the history of the instrument and presenting his ideas on complex nature of the organ to which he wants to insufflate a greater poetic richness: “Organ, Memory and Future” (Buchet-Chastel) which is with its third edition in France, its second edition in Germany, and with its first edition in Italy.

As a writer, Jean Guillou has written many texts on music and also literary interpretations and poems. Several of his compositions exploit his own texts: “Alice in Organ Land” for organ and narrator, “Aube” for 12 voices and organ, the “Poem of the Hand” for soprano and organ, “Echo” for choir and orchestra.

As a teacher, he taught from 1970 to 2005 in Meisterkursus of Zurich, alongside Geza Anda, Nathan Milstein, Gregor Piatigorsky, Vladimir Spivakov, thus inspiring more than 300 young artists from different countries.

Philips reissued in 9 CDs his recordings made in the years 1960 to 1970, but also published 7 CDs of his compositions for organ, other instruments and voice, the complete works of Bach, a CD on the Double Borgato Piano, and one Mozart CD. Other labels (Dorian, Festivo, Pierre Vérany, Carrara) complete his discography.

2007 saw the creation of his two latest works: “The Revolt of the Organs” written for 9 organ and percussions, and the 7th Concerto premiered with the orchestra “di Padova E del Veneto” conducted by Giuseppe Marotta, in Padoue and Milan. 3 CDs, which will be released by Philips in June 2008, will present recordings made in 2008 on the organ of the Naples Academy, featuring Schumann, Liszt, and improvisations.

http://www.orgue-saint-eustache.com/Guillou_EN.htm

Georges Guillard is the appointed organist at Notre-Dame-des-Blancs-Manteaux in Paris. At the Conservatoire National de Région de Paris he is responsible for ancient music ; holding the title of Doctor of Musicology he is attached to the Sorbonne as a high level examiner in music and musicology.

Radio-France and the main festivals in Paris are regularly welcoming him for recitals and he has also given many concerts all over France and in Europe. He has also produced organ music series at Radio-France. In 2002, he has launched at Notre-Dame-des-Blancs-Manteaux a concert cycle of the complete J.S. Bach Cantatas ; this performance is supposed to take more than 20 years !

Due to his long practice on the magnificent Kern organ of the Blancs-Manteaux Church and his intensive contacts with organ builders and specialised organists, he is particularly interested in the European classical and baroque repertoire.

He has materialised his investigations in numerous publications about music, musicology, musicography and pedagogics.

Amongst his recordings one can find several worldwide premieres : especially the organ works of G..A. Homilius, the first version (the so-called Weimar Version) of the Leipzig Chorals composed by J.S. Bach, as well as the complete vocal and instrumental works by Jehan Alain ( on 3 CDs).

His discs have been medalled twice, in 1992 and 1996, when the Académie du Disque Lyrique awarded him the Orphée d’Or.

His interest in contemporary music made him also push forward certain important composers in France.

Joachim Antoni Grubich (b. 16 January 1935 in Chelmno) – Polish organist , professor of fine arts science , a university lecturer.

In the years 1956-1961 he studied at the State Higher School of Music in Krakow . Since 1964 he worked at the university since 1969 as an assistant professor. He came to the positions of professor of music academies in Krakow and Warsaw, where he also served as head of the Department of Organ and Harpsichord. In 1994-1995 he was a visiting professor of postgraduate studies in Seoul.

He made his debut at the International Organ Festival in Oliwa in 1960, beginning a long-term active concert career, appearing in Europe, Asia and North America. He played Royal Festival Hall in London, De Doelen in Rotterdam, the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Schauspielhaus in Berlin, Victoria Hall in Geneva, the Crystal Cathedral in California and in the Cathedral in Strasbourg. He also appeared in television programs in Poland, Romania and the United States. He has recorded 26 albums. As a specialist appointed for a juror repeatedly organ competitions in the world. He took part in the work of rebuilding the organ in the church of St. Anne in Warsaw , as well as the construction of new bodies for the Philharmonic and the church. Peter and Paul as part of the parish of St. Barbara.