2021 First-Prize Winner: Aaron Tan
Concert organist Aaron Tan is a leading young artist in North America. He is the only person to have received first-prize in three of the most major North American organ competitions: the Canadian RCCO National Organ Competition, the AGO National Young Artists Competition in Organ Playing (NYACOP), and most recently in October 2021, the CIOC. Mr. Tan is currently pursuing doctoral studies at Eastman School of Music and also serves as Organist and Director of Music at St. Alban’s Catholic Church (Ordinariate in Rochester, NY). He recently received his MM and MMA from Yale University. As a scientist, Aaron holds a Ph.D. in Materials Science from the University of Michigan and worked there as a postdoctoral researcher after earning his degree, studying polymer thin films.
Other 2021 CIOC Winners:
- 2nd Prize: Ben Bloor, United-Kingdom
- 3rd Prize (ex-aequo): Bryan Anderson, United-States; Tyler Boehmer, Canada
- Sir Ernest MacMillan Memorial Foundation Award: Aaron Tan, Canada / Philippines
- Quarter-Final Round Audience Prize: Anastasia Stahl, Russia
- Louis-Robilliard Prize: Bryan Anderson, USA
- RCCO Raymond-Daveluy Prize: Aaron Tan, Canada / Philippines
- Marcel-Dupré Prize: Aaron Tan, Canada / Philippines
- Spinelli Prize: Ben Bloor, U.K.
- Richard-Bradshaw Audience Prize: Anastasia Stahl, Russia
2017 First-Prize Winner: Alcée Chriss III
A featured star in the PBS documentary Pipe Dreams (2019), Alcee Chriss III is an organist and keyboardist from Fort Worth, TX. Dr. Chriss is the winner of the 2017 Canadian International Organ Competition and the Firmin Swinnen Silver Medal at the 2016 Longwood Gardens International Organ Competition. He has been celebrated for his “grace, skill and abundant proficiency” by the Journal Assist News, Albuquerque. And of his most recent solo recording at Montreal Symphony Hall, Art et Rhapsodie (2019), the American Record Guide wrote that “he plays with clarity, imagination, musicality, virtuosity, and yes, personality.”
Dr. Chriss has performed throughout North America and Europe. Recent and upcoming performances include the International Orgelsommer (Stuttgart, Germany), Stockholm City Hall (Sweden), and as soloist with the Montreal Symphony in a performance of Copland’s Symphony for Organ and Orchestra. Other engagements include the Princeton University Chapel, Spreckels Organ Pavilion and International Organ Summer Karlsruhe, Germany. In July 2022 he was a featured performer at the national convention of the American Guild of Organists, held in Seattle WA. In July 2019, Dr. Chriss was appointed as University Organist and Artist-in-Residence at Wesleyan University, where he teaches courses in organ and keyboard skills. In October 2019, he was awarded his Doctorate of Music degree from McGill University, where he studied with Hans-Ola Ericsson. He previously studied at Oberlin Conservatory of Music where he received his Master’s degree in historical keyboard and a Bachelor’s degree in Organ Performance, studying with Olivier Latry, Marie-Louise Langlais, and James David Christie.
Dr. Chriss is active as a church musician, guest lecturer, and remains engaged with his lifelong love of gospel and jazz music. He also serves on the editorial board of Vox Humana magazine.
Other 2017 CIOC Winners:
- 2nd Prize: Oliver Brett, United-Kingdom
- 3rd Prize: Nicholas Capozzoli, United-States
- Royal Canadian College of Organists Prize: Oliver Brett, United-Kingdom
- Richard-Bradshaw Audience Prize: Yuan Shen, China
- Bach Prize: Alcee Chriss III, United States
- Spinelli Prize: Alcee Chriss III, United-States
2014 First-Prize Winner: David Baskeyfield
Originally from England, David Baskeyfield studied at the Eastman School of Music, Rochester, NY, with David Higgs (repertoire) and William Porter (improvisation). Gaining first prizes during that time in a number of national and international competitions, he has embarked on a performing career both sides of the Atlantic encompassing both repertoire and improvisation. David read Law at Oxford as organ scholar at St John’s College, studying with John Wellingham and David Sanger; between Oxford and Eastman he spent a year as organ scholar of Christ Church Cathedral and St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin. He continues to be active as an accompanist, continuo player and occasional cocktail pianist. As an outgrowth of his interest in classical organ improvisation, he has taken to accompanying silent movies; recent engagements have featured Nosferatu (1922), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) and The Phantom of the Opera (1925). He has occasionally given theatre organ recitals. To know more about David Baskeyfield, visit his website at http://www.davidbaskeyfield.com
Other 2014 CIOC Winners:
- 2nd Prize: Andrew Dewar, United-Kingdom
- 3rd Prize: Daria Burlak, Russia
- Royal Canadian College of Organists Prize: David Baskeyfield, United-Kingdom
- Richard-Bradshaw Audience Prize: David Baskeyfield, United-Kingdom
- Bach Prize: Andrew Dewar, United-Kingdom
2011 First-Prize Winner: Christian Lane
Winner of the 2011 CIOC and director of Boston Organ Studio, Christian Lane is one of North America’s most accomplished, respected and dynamic concert organists and teachers. Noted for his “gratifying musical maturity, demonstrated through playing that is suave, elegant, and exciting (The American Organist),” he is a frequent recitalist in North America, Europe, and Asia. Christian Lane holds degrees from Yale University and the Eastman School of Music, and has served in many prominent positions, including at Harvard University and Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue (New York). In 2018–19, he served as Visiting Professor of Organ at McGill University in Montréal. Mr. Lane is currently Director of Music at Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Baltimore, Maryland; he recently joined the faculty of Towson University and is represented by Karen McFarlane Artists, Inc. www.ChristianLane.com | www.BostonOrganStudio.com
Other 2011 CIOC Winners:
- 2nd Prize: Jens Korndörfer, Germany
- 3rd Prize (ex-aequo): Balthasar Baumgartner, Germany; Jean-Willy Kunz, France
- Royal Canadian College of Organists Prize: Jared Ostermann, USA
- Richard-Bradshaw Audience Prize: Jean-Willy Kunz, France
- Liszt Prize: Jens Korndörfer, Germany
- Alain Prize: Andreas Jud, Switzerland
- Bach Prize: Yulia Yufereva, Russia
2008 First-Prize Winner: Frédéric Champion
Born in Lyon in 1976, French organist Frédéric Champion has won several prizes and awards for performing organ music from the 16th through the 21st century. Past awards in competitions include 1st Prize at the Minoru Yoshida Tokyo-Musashino Competition and “Bachpreisträger” at the Leipzig Bach Competition both in 2004; 2nd Prize at both the Concours de musique de chambre FNAPEC in Paris (organ & percussions) and the Luzern Competition in 2002; 1st Prize at the International Competition Gottfried Silbermann in 2001; 1st Prize at the International Competition “Musica Antiqua” in Bruges in 2000; and 3rd Prize at the Xavier Darasse International Competition in Toulouse in 1998. And most recently, in October 2008, Champion won 1st Prize and Audience Prize at the Canadian International Organ Competition in Montreal. Early on, Champion developed a fascination for music and started studying organ music as an autodidact. In 1994, he enters the Conservatoire National de Région in Lyon and studies organ with Louis Robilliard. He then studies organ with Michel Bouvard at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris organ and with Jan Willem Jansen at the Centre d’Études Supérieures de Musique (CESM) in Toulouse. Having performed regularly as a solo organist and with orchestras and choirs, Champion has given several concerts in France (Cathédrale de Chartres, Saint-Eustache in Paris), in Germany (Frauenkirche in Dresden, St. Thomas in Leipzig), in Russia, in Portugal and in Japan (Kawasaki Symphony Hall and Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Symphony Hall in Osaka). He has also created pieces exclusively for the organ, as well as for organ and percussions or choirs. Champion is also linked to transcribing symphonic pieces for the organ. Frédéric Champion has also performed with a number of orchestras as well as vocal or chamber music ensembles as a pianist and harpsichordist. In fact, his talent for improvisation extends to the organ, the piano and the harpsichord. A meeting with fortepianist Edoardo Torbianelli at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis provided Champion with a more global knowledge and encompassing vision of music. Following his victory at the 2008 Canadian International Organ Competition (CIOC)—a prestigious new competition in Montreal that plays an important role in recognizing and promoting the value of organ music—Frédéric Champion acts as its first ambassador and pursues an international career. To know more about Frédéric Champion, please visit his website at http://www.fredericchampion.com/topic/index.html.
Other 2008 CIOC Winners:
- 2nd Prize: Andrew Dewar, United-Kingdom
- 3rd Prize: Jens Korndörfer, Germany
- Royal Canadian College of Organists Prize: Jonathan Oldengarm, Canada
- Richard-Bradshaw Audience Prize: Frédéric Champion, France
- Messiaen Prize: Andrew Dewar, United-Kingdom
- Bach Prize: Els Biesemans, Belgium