Born in 1965 in Oldenbourg (Germany), Silvius von Kessel studied the organ at Folkwang Hochschule Essen. There, he obtains the Examination of State of sacred music. He continued his studies with Olivier Latry, holder of the organ of Notre-Dame de Paris, and became international concert performer.

Also, he becomes holder and choimaster of the cathedral of Erfurt in 1999. Then in 2004 he reaches the presidence of the “Thûringer Bachwochen” ‘s festival (the biggest festival of music).

He carries out an international career of concert performer, also as interprets of literature of organ and like improviser. He registered cd’s for the radio and appeared in television shows.

Recently, he was congratulated for his performance of his version of the third symphony in b minor of Anton Bruckner.

Silvius von KESSEL – Chartres 2007

http://www.kirchenmusik-erfurt.de/kirchenmusiker/silvius-von-kessel.html

Pierre de Kergommeaux is organist of the Collegiale Church of Saint-Denis, Amboise. He began the organ at the Conservatory of Nantes with Jean Costa. He continued with Xavier Darasse and André Isoir in Angers, where he won first prize for organ unanimously. He also followed different courses for the teaching profession and won several prizes and awards in music theory, harmony, piano, music history, sight reading, singing and chamber music. He followed the first Academy in Semur en Auxois with Michel Chapuis, Philippe and Gerard Hartman Fonvieille.

He was organist and choirmaster of the Church of Our Lady of Angers, and some time substituts organist in the Paris region, including St Rémi de Maison-Alfort, St Nicolas and St Severin. He gave numerous concerts on famous and prestigious instruments (Cathedral of Poitiers, Bourges, Luçon, Chartres, St Dizier, Brive, Perpignan). He also plays chamber music, orchestra (continuo), or with choir, in many concerts with different ensembles in the region.

Member of the Ensemble Jacques Moderne for several years, he is currently a member of the Ensemble “Musica Barroca” Tours. In 1981, he recorded an album, critically acclaimed, dedicated to Frescobaldi, on the organ of San Carlu Monticello (Haute-Corse). It is one of the leaders of the association “Renaissance Organs d’Amboise.”

Pierre de KERGOMMEAUX – Chartres 2011

http://chanteloireamboise.choralia.fr/direction-musicale/

Born August 30, 1927 at Zaandam (Holland), the Dutch concert organist and composer, Pieter [Piet] William Kee, began music with his father Cor Kee, and later organ, piano and composition at the Amsterdam Conservatory, with Anthon van der Horst, among others. He played several instruments : piano, organ, violin, clarinet. His studies were honoured with the Prix d’Excellence. He won first prize at the annual Haarlem International Improvisation Competition three times in succession (1953 to 1955).

Piet Kee taught at the Music Lyceum and Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam from 1954 until 1988, and at the Haarlem International Summer Academy for Organists. He was organist at St. Laurens church in Alkmaar from 1952 to 1986 (or 1987), and city organist of the world famous Müller organ at St. Bavokerk in Haarlem from 1956 until 1989.

Piet Kee made concert tours all over the world in Europe, America, Asia and Australia. His improvisation skills are renowned, and he is a frequent jury member at organ festival competitions. His compositions now include the Haarlem Concerto, which received its first performance by Thomas Trotter in March 2006.

Piet Kee has made numerous recordings, several of which received awards. His earlier recordings can be found on the Telefunken, HMV, Philips and Guild labels. Starting in 1989 he made a series of eleven recordings for Chandos, including works of Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck , Johann Pachelbel , Nicolaus Bruhns , Dietrich Buxtehude , JS Bach, Felix Mendelssohn , Frank, Alain, Max Reger , Paul Hindemith , Andriessen and Messiaen on notable European instruments including St. Bavo Haarlem, St. Laurens Alkmaar, Roskilde Cathedral Denmark, Basilika Weingarten, Martini Church Groningen and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Several of these recordings are now available as MP3 downloads.

In 1988, with Olivier Messiaen Piet Kee received an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of Organists.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piet_Kee

Gunther Kaunzinger, professor at the Musikhochschule Würzburg since 1974, was “artist in residence” at the National Shrine ‘and director of the organ department at the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC from 1970 to 1978. He learned his work especially with the French masters of the organ : Marie-Claire Alain, Maurice Duruflé and Jean Guillou (for whom the art of improvisation was a very natural component of their education). Previously, Gunther Kaunzinger had acquired a solid musical training in Germany (which also understood the piano, composition and direction).

His performing international career took off after Kaunzinger have won awards at six international organ competitions. His numerous recordings also earned him several awards, including the Deutsche Schallplattenkritk ‘in 1980, 1982 and 1988. In 1988, Sulzbach-Rosenberg of the city awarded him its Cultural Award.

Kaunzinger founded in 1978 Meisterkurse for the interpretation of the organ of Würzburg. These courses found their permanent home in his villa “Capriccio” in Helmstadt near Würzburg in 1983, the year in which he inaugurated a series of concerts called “Concerts in Capriccio.”

Several instruments in Germany and other countries were built according to his plans that require the construction of modern and individual organ. In recognition of his merit for the organ in the Stiftsbasilika Waldsassen he was appointed honorary organist in 1989. In 1990 he published the first complete edition original works for organ by César Franck (Schott / Wiener EU) that has interested much criticism.

http://www.kaunzinger.org/

Maria Magdalena Kaczor was born in 1980 in Kościan, Poland. Her love of music awakened at the age of seven, and she received initial piano instruction, at first at the music school of her hometown, then later with Hanna Morawska-Bernacka at the music school in Poznań.

In 1995 she was accepted into the piano class of Aleksandra Utrecht at the Mieczysław Karłowicz Music High School in Poznań, where in 1999 she passed her examinations as instrumental soloist with a major in piano and in music education (with emphasis on piano). She additionally studied choral conducting, conducting (in the class of Przemysław Pałka, exams with honors), improvisation, chamber music, and organ.

In 1999 she began her musical studies at the National Academy of Music “Ignacy Paderewski” in Poznań, graduating in 2004 with a master’s degree in piano (in the class of Ewa Jakóbczyk-Kandulska) and in music education (with emphasis on piano). Her thesis, graded cum laude, dealt with the works of twentieth-century composers from Poznań.

As a result of her participation in an interpretation course for organ music in France, she received an invitation to continue her training in Paris. From 2005 she studied with Françoise Dornier at the Conservatoire Gabriel Fauré in Paris (5th Arrondissement), graduating with a diploma in organ from the Conservatoire National de Région in June 2008.

In September 2008 she was unanimously accepted into the organ class of François Espinasse and Liesbeth Schlumberger at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et Danse in Lyon, where she graduated with a Prix d’Orgue cum laude in June 2012.

In addition, she studied organ at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg with Prof. Pieter van Dijk and Prof. Wolfgang Zerer between April 2011 and March 2012.

During the 2012/2013 concert season Maria-Magdalena Kaczor was « Artist in residence » as organist at « Kitara Concert Hall » in Sapporo, Japan, where she played under conductors like Tadaaki Otaka, Hideichi Oki, Junichi Hirokami, Dmitri Kitaenko, Ken Takaseki and Kazafumi Yamashita. Her activities as a concert organist led her to the Metropolitan Theatre and the Suntory Hall in Tokio. In March 2013 she recorded her first solo album (“Esprit des lumières volantes”) on the 4-manual Kern organ of « Kitara Concert Hall » performing works by André Raison, Nicolas de Grigny, Johann Sebastian Bach, Franz Liszt, Hermann Schrœder, Mieczyslaw Surzyński and Charles Tournemire.

Maria Magdalena Kaczor has been a scholarship holder of the Andrzeja Bator Private Foundation, the French government (2007), and the City of Kościan (2008), winner of the Arts Prize of the City of Poznań, twice artistic scholarship holder of the Région Rhône-Alpes (2010 and 2011), and artistic scholarship holder of the French Société Générale bank (2011).

In 2003 she was a finalist at the Primus Inter Pares Competition, and in October 2007 at the André Marchal International Organ Competition in Biarritz, with a special mention from the jury.

In September 2011 she shared the second prize (a first prize was not awarded) at the International Hermann Schrœder Organ Competition in Trier, Germany.

Moreover, she was an active participant at numerous master classes and summer academies, including master courses, i.e. “Classical Music of Brazil” with Iarę Behs, “The Music of Chopin” with Andrzeja Jasiński, organ master classes with Marek Toporowski, Christopher Stembridge, Martin Haselböck, Julian Gembalski, Martin Sander, Lothar Knappe, Olivier Latry, Martin Szelest, Éric Lebrun, Philippe Lefebvre, Michel Bouvard, Jos van der Kooy, and Christophe Mantoux.

Between 2003 and 2008 she organized, in conjunction with the Cultural Office of the City of Kościan, a series of organ concerts in the Gothic St Mary of the Assumption Church.

Since 1998 she has participated in over 150 benefit performances for the preservation of the Friedrich Ladegast organ of the St Stanislas and St Mary Magdalen Basilica in Poznań.

She performs regularly at music festivals in Belgium, Germany, France, Japan, Italy, Luxemburg, the Netherlands and Poland, at the Festival Berlioz in La Côté Saint-André (Isère, France) and at the Festival Basse Navarre.

Maria Magdalena KACZOR – Chartres 2008

http://mariamagdalenakaczor.eu/

She was born in Épernay (in the Marne department). After advanced studies at the Conservatoire National Supérieur in Paris she obtained five first prizes for organ, improvisation, harmony counterpoint and fugue. She also has a thorough grounding in literature, and obtained a doctorate in music at the Sorbonne University in January 1999.

Odile Jutten took part in the European Organ Improvisation competition at Beauvais in 1983, winning the Grand Prix. Her recital activities also include improvisation, and she plays works ranging from the sixteenth century to the present day. She holds a lectureship in music at the University of Saint-Étienne, and is organist of Châlons-en-Champigny Cathedral, where the instrument she plays is a listed historic monument.

As a result of her interest in instruments of historical merit and in encouraging their use, she has now been supporting cultural associations concerned with organs in the Champagne region for over twenty years.

Odile Jutten is the artistic director and principal organiser of the first and second International Cavaillé-Coll Congress at Epernay in 1987 and 1994. She is the founder and president of the Marne Organ Federation. In 1994 she was appointed as a member of the Commission Supérieure des Monuments Historiques (the state-organised committee to which the protection and restoration of historic organs is entrusted).

Odile Jutten is at present investigating how the art of interpreting music developed between 1750 and 1850, basing her research on the evidence provided by mechanical instruments.

Burkhard Just, born in 1969 in Stade in Northern Germany, studied Organ, Church Music, School Music at the conservatories in Lübeck (Germany) and Zürich (Switzerland).

He finished his studies with several diplomas : Organ (1995), Church Music (1996), Music Teacher for Organ (1997), Concert diploma organ (2000), School music teacher (2002), soloists diploma organ (2003).

Among his teachers were Ludger Lohmann and Jon Laukvik.

Burkhard Just was successful at international organ competitions : e.g. in Freigerg – JS. Bach (1997, Finalist), Dublin (1999, Finalist), Odense 2002 (2nd prize and special prize for modern piece, no first was awarded).

Burkhard Just works as an organist and conductor of choirs in Switzerland, and he gives concerts as organ soloist and chamber musician.

http://www.burkhardjust.org/

Jeanne Joulain | born in 1920 Jeanne Joulain was an organist and professor at the conservatories of Roubaix, Lille, and Amiens in France. She has concertized extensively in France and abroad, including at the cathedrals of Chartres and Saint-Sulpice.

During her studies at the Paris Conservatory, she won the prix de composition and premier prix in organ as a student of Guy de Lioncourt and Marcel Dupré.

She has published several organ pieces and reconstituted improvisations by Pierre Cochereau. Joulain was organist of the Church of Saint-Maurice in Lille.

She died on February 1, 2010.

Herman Jordaan was born and grew up in Pretoria, South Africa.

He obtained his B MUS Honours degree at the University of Pretoria, where he studied organ with Wim Viljoen. He also obtained the Performer’s Licentiate from the University of South Africa.

From 1997 to 1999 he studied with Jacques van Oortmerssen at the Conservatory of Amsterdam, where he obtained the diploma.

He won different prizes during various national and international organ competitions : first prize at the UNISA National Organ Competition, first prize as well as the audience prize in Alkmaar (The Netherlands), second prize at Kotka (Finland), the Stephanus Zondagh prize at the UNISA, first prize at Nijmegen (The Netherlands), first prize and the audience prize at St Albans (UK).

He has undertaken concert tours to Europe and Scandinavia, and currently has engagements in the UK, Europe and the USA.

http://www.hermanjordaan.com/

Joyce Jones has devoted her professional life to making friends for the organ, through Community Concerts, countless organ dedications, children’s concerts, and “Access to Music” programs. She has been widely acclaimed since making her debut with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra as the only organist ever to win the prestigious G. B. Dealey award. She has played in 47 states and 12 foreign countries.

Joyce Jones is the Joyce Oliver Bowden Professor of Organ and Organist in Residence at Baylor University in Texas, which also named her Outstanding Creative Artist. She earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Texas and a Master of Sacred Music degree in composition from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, which presented her with its Distinguished Service Award in 1989. She has recorded for Word, Rosenhaus, and Motette Records. She is a Fellow of the American Guild of Organists and the composer of numerous published works, including the organ method “King of Instruments”.

In 1997, she received the National Federation of Music Clubs’ highest award, a National Citation, “in recognition and sincere appreciation of her unselfish devotion and dedicated service to music as a concert organist, inspiring teacher and composer.” In 1998, she received the highest award given by Mu Phi Epsilon, professional music fraternity, as only the 8th recipient of that prestigious award in 96 years. In 2001 she was inducted into the Walter Gilewicz Hall of Fame at The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. In 2003, she received the Texas Music Teachers Association award as the outstanding collegiate teacher of the year. She was also the subject of a feature article in the May 2003 issue of The American Organist magazine.

Joyce Jones’ numerous engagements include such venues as the Riverside Church, the Mormon Tabernacle, Notre-Dame Cathedral, Chartres Cathedral, and the Meyerson Symphony Center. She was the first woman to perform on the organ at the Crystal Cathedral, the first organist to play for the Grand Teton Music Festival, and the only woman organist chosen to play with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra at the inauguration of the Ruffatti organ in Davies Symphony Hall.

She has been featured soloist at many regional and national conventions of the American Guild of Organists, including the centennial convention in New York City in 1996, for which The American Organist magazine praised her playing as “vibrant and elegant,” with her pedal virtuosity acclaimed as “stunning”. Of her Worcester, Massachusetts concert in June, 1999, The American Organist reported that “Her amazing technique and depth of understanding through memorization brought the crowd screaming to its feet”.