Winner of the Haarlem Improvisation Competition 2026: Bernhard Hauk

On Friday 24 July 2026, Bernhard Hauk (D) was proclaimed the winner of the 2026 edition of the Haarlem International Improvisation Competition. 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.

As in the first and second round, there were two assignments in the Finale. The first tied in with the festival theme ‘Echoes through time – the Organ as Time Machine’. The participants 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 the participants however did not know was that, during their improvisation, they would be interrupted by a recording of ‘Yesternow’ by Miles Davis (1926–1991). Their task was to combine these two elements in a convincing way.

Berhard Hauk will be invited to perform a recital during the next edition of the Haarlem International Organ Festival, which will take place from 15 to 29 July 2028. Olivier Latry, organist at Notre-Dame in Paris, will be that year’s artist in residence.

The International Improvisation Competition, founded in 1951, is the most important component of the Organ Festival. The biennal 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 another disciplines or with other musicians.
The Improvisation Competition is open to professional organists with concert improvisation experience. There is no age limit. 

The themes which were used for the 2026 preliminary round can be downloaded here.

Participants in 2026

From the recordings sent to the organization, a preliminary jury consisting of Zuzana Ferjencíková, Geerten van de Wetering and Jan Hage selected the following organists:

Andy Brown (USA)
Daniel Carroll (USA)
Jack Day (UK/D)
Ethan Haman (USA/D)
Alex Leonardi (USA)
Hubert Trojanek (PL)
Goetz Bienert (D)
Berhard Hauk (D)

Jury

The jury of the 2026 International Improvisation Competition consisted of:

• Jean-Pierre Leguay (F)
• Franz Danksagmüller (D)
• Mathilde Wantenaar (NL)
• Inger-Lise Ulsrud (NO)
• Samuel Liégeon (F)
• Ansgar Wallenhorst (D, chairman)

2026 Assignments

Round 1

The players in the first round got two assignments:
– Improvise 3 Monodies (one-voice melodies) using these registrations:

1. Borstwerk: Regaal 8’ Nasard 1 1/3’
2. Hoofdwerk: Prestant 8’
3. Rugwerk: Sexquialtera (as main color, stops may be added)

– Second assignment was the improvisation of a Toccata based on György Kurtág (*1926):
Vízözön-szirénák – Waiting for Noah
Sintflut-Sirenen / Sirens of the Deluge

Total playing time was 15 minutes per candidate.

Round 2

The players in the second round (Wednesday 22 July in Josephkerk) were (in order of playing):
Goetz Bienert, Andy Brown, Bernhard Hauk, Ethan Haman, Alex Leonardi and Hubert Trojanek.

Also in the second round there were 2 assignments:

– The participants played together with theremin player Carolina Eyck, on basis of the poem
‘Musik: Atem der Statuen’ by Reiner Maria Rilke (1875-1926):

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

– Second assignment was an improvisation using a rhythm which was composed by Loïc Mallé on request of the Haarlem Festival.

Total playing time was 20 minutes per candidate.

Final round

Admitted to the Final round were (in playing order):
Bernhard Hauk, Alex Leonardi and Andy Brown

The first assignment tied in with the festival theme ‘Echoes through time – the Organ as Time machine’: the participants 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 the participants however did not know was that, during their improvisation, they would be interrupted by a recording of ‘Yesternow’ by Miles Davis (1926–1991).

The next Haarlem Improvisation Competition will take place on 17 (First round), 19 (Second round) and 21 July 2028 (Final round).