Next summer, the International Organ Festival Haarlem will take place for the 55th time with the three fixed ingredients for a successful festival:

• The Improvisation Competition
• A series of concerts by today's leading international organists
• The International Summer Academy

The Summer Academy is from Monday July 15 to Friday July 26.
For 2 weeks we offer no fewer than 19 courses of 10 hours each, of which each student can choose a maximum of 6.

<font style="vertical-align: inherit;"> The master classes are given on the organs in the Haarlem Bavokerk (Müller), Phil. (Cavaillé-Coll), Doopsgezinde Kerk (Ahrend), Koepelkathedraal (Adema) and the Josephkerk (Adema). All master classes are given in English.</font>

You can register for courses in which places are still available until the day before the start of the Summer Academy, i.e. until July 14, 2024.

The following teachers and courses are on the program in 2024:

First week (July 15-19, 2024):

1. Bernard Foccroulle: JS Bach (1): Clavier-Übung III
2. Wolfgang Zerer: JS Bach (2): Preludes, Toccatas & Fugues, Concerto
3. Monika Melcová: Improvisation (1)
4. Wolfgang Zerer: North German Organ Repertoire from the 17th and 18th centuries: Buxtehude, Preatorius, Scheidemann, Scheidt, Tunder, Weckmann
5. Jean-Baptiste Robin: Organ Repertoire from the French Baroque period: Nivers, Boyvin, Couperin, Marchand, De Grigny, Guilain, Dandrieu
6. Jean-Baptiste Robin: César Franck (1)
7. Bernard Foccroulle: Organ Repertoire from the 20th and 21st centuries
8. Zsigmond Szathmáry: Young Composers Class (until July 22)
9. Various professors: Young Talents Class (FULL)
10. Various professors: Excellence Class

Second week (July 22-26, 2024):

9. Various professors: Young Talents Class (FULL)
10. Various professors: Excellence Class
11. Leo van Doeselaar: JS Bach (3): Toccatas/Fantasias & Fugues, Sonatas, Leipziger Choräle
12. Peter Planyavsky: Improvisation (2)
13. Leo van Doeselaar: Jan Pz Sweelinck & Anthoni van Noordt
14. Joris Verdin: César Franck (2), Compositions for Organ and Harmonium/Orgue expressif
15. Nathan Laube: Mendelssohn-Schumann-Brahms & the New German School of Liszt and Reubke
16. Olivier Latry: Louis Vierne & Maurice Duruflé
17. Nathan Laube: Charles-Marie Widor & Alexandre Guilmant
18. Roman Summereder: Heiller, Hindemith, Schönberg and contempories 'in Haarlem perspective'
19. Olivier Latry: The young Messiaen, the young Alain

NB. The following courses cannot be combined:

• Course 1 (Foccroulle) + Course 6 (Robin)
• Course 2 (Zerer) + Course 3 (Melcová)
• Course 5 (Robin) + Course 7 (Foccroulle)
• Course 4 (Zerer) + Course 8 (Szathmáry)
• Course 11 (Van Doeselaar) + Course 16 (Latry)
• Course 17 (Laube) + Course 13 (Van Doeselaar) + Course 14 (Verdin)
• Course 18 (Summereder) + Course 15 (Laube)
• Course 12 (Planyavsky) + Course 19 (Latry)

The Young Talent Class (12-18 years) cannot be combined with other courses.

Repertoire

Anyone who registers as an active student for the Summer Academy course(s) (with the exception of the Improvisation courses) must submit the prepared repertoire no later than April 1, 2024. This can be done by email to office@organfestival.nl. If we do not receive this statement in time, the student's status may be changed to 'passive'.

Bed & Breakfast

The Festival organization is happy to help you find accommodation in Haarlem during the Summer Academy. This can be booked using the 'B&B' button.

Excursions

There are 2 excursions during the Summer Academy:

Excursion 1
Saturday, July 20, 9.00AM - 16.00 PM to organs in The Hague, Maassluis, Rotterdam and Gouda

Excursion 2
Wednesday, July 24, 18.45 - 22.00 PM to Alkmaar, with a concert in the Laurenskerk by Nathan Laube (USA) and Pieter van Dijk (NL)

Register

Both professional organists and students at a Conservatoire or Musikhochschule can register as an active student or listener. From April 1, 2024, amateur organists can also register as listeners for a limited number of places.

For admission to the Young Talents Class (12-18 years), a recording of a fast movement from one of Bach's trio sonatas and a movement from La Nativité du Seigneur by Olivier Messiaen is required. Deadline for submitting this recording is April 1, 2024.

You cannot register yourself for the Excellence Class. In 2022, the six best students from that Summer Academy were selected by the then teachers. They will be invited by the organization in 2024 to receive special tailor-made master classes at the expense of the Festival.

Course rates

Registration fee € 115 (mandatory for all students except Young Talents, Excellence Class participants and Young Composers)

• 6 courses: €1026 (40% discount)
• 5 courses: €926,25 (35% discount)
• 4 courses: €798 (30% discount)
• 3 courses: €658,35 (23% discount)
• 2 courses: €473,10 (17% discount)
• 1 course: €285
• Young Talent: €300
• Excursion July 20: €65
• Excursion Alkmaar, July 24: € 20
• B&B: €45 per night

Discount for groups

If 5 or more students from the same Conservatoire or Musikhochschule participate in the Summer Academy, the entire group will receive an attractive extra discount of 5 to a maximum of 20%. For more information please contact us at office@organfestival.nl.

Payment of course fees

Payment of the course fees can be made by transfer to the bank account of the Organ Festival: 

IBAN: NL77 INGB 0670 9604 38
BIC: INGBNL2A (or, if a longer code is requested: INGBNL2AXXX)

Account holder: International Organ Competition Foundation
Name and address of the bank:
ING Bank NV
Foreign Operations
PO Box 1800
1000 BV Amsterdam
Select 'OUR' for the costs.

Refund in case of cancellation

It is possible to reserve course places and pay later. However, registration is only guaranteed after receipt of payment of the course fees into our bank account. Payment by April 1st is strongly recommended to avoid disappointment. 

If you cancel participation after payment, the following arrangement applies:

• If you cancel before May 15, 2024, 75% of the amount will be refunded.
• In case of cancellation between May 15 and June 14, 2024, 50%, and between June 15 and July 1, 25% of the paid course fees will be refunded.
• There will be no refund if you cancel after July 1, 2024.

You must take out cancellation insurance yourself for the part of the course fees not reimbursed. If the Organ Festival is forced to cancel the Summer Academy due to force majeure, the participant can choose a voucher and priority when registering for a next edition, or a refund of 100% of the course fees.

Heiller Symposium

During the Summer Academy, a Symposium around Anton Heiller will be organized on Sunday, July 21. This symposium is free for Summer Academy students.

Heiller was of great importance to the development of the Organ Festival in the fifties and sixties, together with Marie-Claire Alain and Luigi Tagliavini. The 101st year of his birth provides a great opportunity to interpret this meaning and place it in the light of the future of improvisation. Heiller students Peter Planyavsky and Roman Summereder (both from Vienna) lead this symposium.