Competitors

2022 BBIOC Competitors

Mária Budáčová • Slovakia
Originally from Slovakia, Mária Budáčová followed a musical path at early stages of her life. After graduation at the Conservatory in Bratislava, she enrolled in the bachelor’s degree in the class of Pavel Černý at the Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Prague. During the program, Mária was accepted as an ERASMUS student at the Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst, Vienna where she further expanded her musical knowledge with Pier Damiano Peretti. In 2014, Mária was accepted into the Artist Diploma program at McGill University in the class of Hans-Ola Ericsson. She recently received the degree of Doctor of Music. Mária participated in several international competitions, such as the prestigious Canadian International Organ Competition, where she was among five finalists. She is the first-prize winner of the Lynnwood Farnam Organ Competition in 2016 in Montreal. In 2019, Mária was awarded a second prize at the Arthur Poister Scholarship Competition in Syracuse.

Jerrick Cavagnaro • United States of America
Jerrick Cavagnaro is a recent graduate of the Yale School of Music and the Yale Institute of Sacred Music where he earned a master’s degree in organ performance, studying under Jon Laukvik and Thomas Murray. He completed his undergraduate studies at Westminster Choir College where he earned bachelor’s degrees in sacred music and organ performance, studying under Alan Morrison. In January 2022, Jerrick received the second prize in the National Competition in Organ Accompaniment sponsored by the Washington, DC chapter of the American Guild of Organists. In June 2022, he received the third prize in the Quebec Organ Competition. A native of New Jersey, Jerrick has served as director of music at Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in Montville and Lincoln Park, NJ, organ scholar at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Morristown, NJ, and as organ scholar at Trinity Episcopal Church on the Green, New Haven, CT. He now serves as the assistant director of music and organist at Christ Episcopal Church, Charlotte, NC.

Philipp Emanuel Gietl • Italy
Philipp Emanuel Gietl was born in Bruneck (South Tyrol, Italy). He studied church music with a major in choir conducting, instrumental pedagogy organ and solo performance organ at the Hochschule für Kirchenmusik in Regensburg, and the Hochschule Luzern with Prof. Stefan Baier and Prof. Suzanne Z'Graggen. From 2014 to 2018 he was musical director of the Bruneck City Parish Choir and its ensembles. Currently, he directs the church choirs and Gregorian Schola at St. Michael and St. John the Baptist in Zug and is organist in Adligenswil. He is also a lecturer in the church music "C Course" at the Lucerne University of Music and head of department of the church music course at the Claudio Monteverdi conservatory in Bolzano, Italy. He is first prize winner of the 2017 Alois Koch Prize.

Jin-won Gil • Republic of Korea
Jin-won Gil is currently organist of God's Will Kwangsung Church, Seoul. Ms Gil received her Master's degree in organ performance from Korea National University of the Arts where she received the Bachelor's degree with an academic performance scholarship in organ, studying under Ja-Kyung Oh. She performed her debut concert hosted by the Kookmin-Ilbo at Youngsan Art Hall, at the Musée des Augustin in Toulouse, and collaboratively with Tokyo University of the Arts as a representative of Korea National University of the Arts. She has participated in masterclasses given by Michel Bouvard, Carole Terry, Zsigmond Szathmary, Martin Schmeding, and Jon Laukvik. She is interested in Baroque performance and plays the harpsichord.

Lisa Hummel • Germany
Lisa Hummel studied school music, church music, conducting and organ in Freiburg and Leipzig with Martin Schmeding, Thomas Lennartz and Matthias Foremny. After having won several prizes at the German national youth competition, she was prizewinner at the ION Nürnberg, Bach-prize Wiesbaden, Pipeworks Organ Competition Dublin, and Braudo Organ Competition St. Petersburg. In 2015, she won the ACV Choral Conducting Competition. She received scholarships of the Cusanuswerk and the Märkische Kulturkonferenz. Lisa has given recitals throughout Germany as well as in France, Ireland, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Austria, Poland, Slovakia and Russia. She attended masterclasses with Hans Fagius, Henry Fairs, Janette Fishell, Matthias Maierhofer, Ben van Oosten, Daniel Roth und Msaaki Suzuki. At present she is Regional Cantor for the city of Rottweil, and also teaches organ and choral conducting at the conservatories of Leipzig and Freiburg. Besides that, she is artistic director and conductor of the "Bundesjugendzupforchester e.V.", the German youth orchestra for plucked instruments.

Freddie James • United Kingdom
Freddie James studied organ at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam with Jacques van Oortmerssen for a year before reading Music as organ scholar at St John’s College, Cambridge, graduating with a double first, which he followed with an MPhil degree. Whilst at Cambridge, he had organ lessons with Gordon Stewart. Subsequently he studied organ and harpsichord at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst, Stuttgart with Ludger Lohmann and Jörg Halubek, and at the Schola Cantorum, Basel, with Tobias Lindner, Andrea Marcon and Francesco Corti. Freddie has given many solo recitals, including in Westminster Abbey, Southwark Cathedral, St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, Coventry Cathedral, St John’s Smith Square, King’s College Cambridge, the Laurenskerk of Alkmaar, and the Grossmünster in Zürich. Freddie has won prizes at international organ competitions in Innsbruck, Alkmaar, Wiesbaden, Béthune, Treviso, Pistoia and Sion. He is organist of the Franziskanerkirche, Lucerne, with its two historic organs, and teaches organ at the Musikhochschule Lucerne.

Karolina Juodelytė • Lithuania
Karolina Juodelytė was born in Vilnius, Lithuania. She has studied organ at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theater (with Virginija Survilaitė and Gediminas Kviklys), the Academy of Music in Detmold (with Martin Sander), the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki (with Kari Jussila) and the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna (with Roman Summereder), and recently completed a master’s degree in church music from the University of Arts in Berlin. She is a laureate of many international competitions: Ciurlionis Organ Competition in Lithuania, Janáček Organ competition in Czech Republic, Sweelinck Organ Competition in Poland, Shanghai Organ Competition in China, Schmidt Organ Competition and others. Karolina Juodelytė has attended organ masterclasses with, among others, Bovet, Tůma, Lucke, Tagliente, Jellema, Frey, Ericsson, Roth and Radulescu. She has performed as a soloist in various concerts, national and international festivals in Europe, and also performs regularly with chamber ensembles and orchestras. Since 2017 she has worked as a lecturer for organ at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, and is currently church music director at Paulus Parish in Berlin, Germany.

Heejin Kim • Republic of Korea
Heejin holds a Bachelor of Music in organ performance from the Ewha Womans University in Seoul, as well as a Master of Music from the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg and a Doctorate from the University of Notre Dame. She won the first prize in the Arp Schnitger-Orgelwettbewerb in Bremen/Hamburg in 2014, and the second prize in the Concorso Organistico Internazionale “Organi Storici del Basso Friuli” in Italy in 2018. She is currently pursuing a Master’s in harpsichord performance at the Historical Performance Institute at Indiana University. She serves as organist at the Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Jinhee Kim • Republic of Korea
Organist, Music Director, and Teacher Jinhee Kim is originally from Seoul, South Korea. Kim won the first prize at the San Marino Organ Competition (CA) and was a finalist at the Longwood Gardens International Organ Competition (PA) and the Asia Organ Competition in Taipei, Taiwan. A doctoral candidate at Indiana University (IU), Kim also completed a master’s degree in Organ Performance at IU’s Jacobs School of Music. She earned her Artist Diploma in Organ at Oberlin Conservatory, and graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in Organ from Yonsei University, South Korea. Her organ teachers include Christopher Young, James David Christie, Olivier Latry, Janette Fishell, Tong-Soon Kwak, and Ji-yoen Choi. She also studied Church Music with Bruce Neswick and Robert Nicholls. As Associate Instructor at Indiana University, Kim taught Elective and Secondary Organ and led studio classes. Kim is Director of Music and Organist at Grace Lutheran Church in Columbus, Indiana.

Josef Kratochvíl • Czech Republic
Josef is a prize winner of several international competitions, such as the young talent competition Jeunesses Musicales of Janáček's Philharmonic, Vox Polonia Petropolitana in Saint Petersburg, and the Petr Eben International Organ Competition. He was also awarded the prestigious scholarship by the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst. At the beginning of 2020, Josef took a part in an internship in the USA, studying with American organists at several world-famous conservatories. In 2021, Josef finished the Meisterklasse organ program at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy in Leipzig, Germany, in the organ class of professor Martin Schmeding. Here he obtained his Master’s degree at the same University as well. Josef has participated in numerous international organ masterclasses led by world-known musicians, such as Olivier Latry, Paul Jacobs, Masaaki Suzuki, Nathan Laube, Ken Cowan, Jean Baptiste-Monnot, Thierry Escaich, and others.

Zita Nauratyill • Hungary
After early studies at the Franz Liszt Music Academy in Budapest, Zita Nauratyill studied organ and piano at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna with Martin Haselböck, the Music and Arts Private University of the City of Vienna with Otto Probst, and the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris with Olivier Latry and Michel Bouvard. In 2020 she completed her studies with distinction. She undertook postgraduate study (Konzertexamen) with Martin Schmeding at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy in Leipzig, Germany. Zita has performed concerts in Austria and abroad, with performances in most European countries and in Lebanon. She has won prizes at the St. Albans Competition (Paul Patterson Prize, Audience Prize) 2015 and the X. International Organ Competition Mikael Tariverdiev (First prize, 5 special prizes) 2017. Since October 2021 she has been a lecturer in organ at the Department of Organ, Organ Research and Church Music of the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna.

David Bendix Nielsen • Denmark
David Bendix Nielsen is a Danish/Hungarian organist based in Copenhagen. He received his early musical training in Hungary and was later educated at The Royal Danish Academy of Music and Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg. He is the organist of St. Mark’s Church in Copenhagen and has previously held positions in some of Denmark´s most important churches, including Roskilde Cathedral and Frederiksborg Castle Church. David is an active concert organist with performances at international organ festivals such as the Ivan Sokol Festival in Slovakia and Antiqua Vox Festival in Italy, and venues such as Westminster Abbey in London and Basilique Sainte-Clotilde in Paris. He is also active in projects with ensembles and choirs, most notably the Grammy-winning vocal ensemble Theater of Voices and the Danish National Symphony Orchestra. David received the prestigious Léonie Sonning Talent Prize in 2018 and the National Arts Foundation´s Young Cultural Elite Scholarship in 2022.

Anna Przybysz • Poland
Anna Przybysz recently completed a doctorate in organ at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, after obtaining master’s degrees from the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy in Leipzig and the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. Her primary teachers have been Jósef Serafin and Martin Schmeding. She also participated in a student exchange with Rice University, Houston, studying with Ken Cowan. Anna has been laureate of the second Marian Sawa National Organ Competition (3rd prize), 5th Feliks Nowowiejski International Organ Competition (3rd prize), and the semi-finalist of the 5th Daniel Herz International Organ Competition in Brixen and of the 13th Gottfried Silbermann International Organ Competition in Freiberg. At present she teaches organ at the Witold Lutosławski Music School in Wołomin and serves as organist at the chapel of St. Francis of Assisi in Radzymin. Her debut album "Karl Hoyer—Organ Works" was released in 2021.

Mona Rozdestvenskyte • Lithuania
Born in Moscow, Mona Rozdestvenskyte earned dual master's degrees in church music and in organ in the class of Martin Sander at the Detmold University of Music, and is completing her studies in the Meisterklasse Organ program with Martin Schmeding at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy in Leipzig, Germany. Rozdestvenskyte has been awarded several prizes in international organ competitions, including first prize at the M. K. Ciurlionis Organ Competition in Vilnius (Lithuania) and at the organ competition in Korschenbroich (Germany) and the prize for the most outstanding overall performance at the competition in St. Albans (UK). She gives concerts throughout Europe, Great Britain, and the USA. Her concerts were broadcasted by the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF) and “Deutschlandfunk Kultur.” Mona Rozdestvenskyte works as church musician at the Provost Church St. Johann in Bremen.

Kanaka Shimizu • Japan
Kanaka Shimizu began to study the organ when she was twelve years old. She graduated from Tokyo University of the Arts, and completed a master’s degree at the same university, receiving the Acanthus prize upon completion. Further study of organ and harpsichord took place at the Conservatoire de Toulouse and the Musikhochschule of Lübeck, where she completed her master’s degree and Konzertexamen course. Major organ teachers include Kazuo Kohno, Rie Hiroe, Michel Bouvard, Jan Willem Jansen and Arvid Gast. In 2016, she won the 1st Prize and the audience prize at the sixth International Organ Competition Pierre de Manchicourt (Béthune and Saint-Omer, France). In 2021, she received the Finalist Award at the eighth International Organ Competition Dudelange (Luxemburg).

Isabelle van Rensburg • South Africa
Isabelle van Rensburg was born in 1985 in Klerksdorp, South Africa. From 2004 she received organ tuition from Professor Wim Viljoen and obtained the degrees Bachelor of Music Performance in 2007, Master of Music in Performing Art (cum laude) in 2012 and Doctor of Music in Performing Art in 2021 from the University of Pretoria (UP). In her research she focused on the compositions of the South African-born Canadian composer, Jacobus Kloppers. She was first prize winner of national competitions including the ATKV Muziq Competition and the Unisa Music Scholarship Competition in 2005. She participated and performed at the International Organ Festival in Haarlem in 2018 and the International Oregon Bach Festival in 2019. Isabelle’s organ tuition includes masterclasses with organists Ben van Oosten, Gordon Stewart, Leo van Doeselaar, Lorenzo Ghielmi, Olivier Penin, Olivier Latry, Paul Jacobs, Reitze Smits, and William Whitehead.

Wenying Wu • China
Wenying Wu's concert engagements have recently taken her to important venues and instruments in both Germany and China, including the Frauenkirche, Dresden; Nikolaikirche, Leipzig, the Petrikirche, Hamburg, etc. She has also been successful in many international competitions, her recent achievements include winning First Prize at the 2nd RCO/IAO Competition, UK (2021) and Second Prize at the 3rd International „László Spezzaferi“ Competition, Italy (2021). In addition to her playing commitments, Wenying is an active conductor and teacher. In Weimar, she conducts two choirs: the Posaunenchor in Blankenheim, and the Kantorei of the St. Nikolaus, Melchendorf. She is also a teaching assistant at the Musikhochschule, Weimar. After bachelor’s study at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Wenying completed further studies in organ and church music at the conservatories in Hamburg, Dresden, Leipzig, and Detmold, where her principal teachers included Wolfgang Zerer, Samuel Kummer, Martin Schmeding, Daniel Beilschmidt, and Martin Sander. She is now enrolled in the Konzertexamen program at the Hochschule für Musik “Franz Liszt” in Weimar, studying with Martin Sturm and Silvius von Kessel.

Olga Zhukova • Russia
In St. Petersburg, Olga Zhukova began her study of organ at the M. Mussorgsky College of Music with Anna Kalinkina and continued at the Rimsky-Korsakov State Conservatory in the class of Daniel Zaretsky. She then moved to Lausanne, Switzerland for master’s and Konzertexamen study at the Haute Ecole de Musique with Maurizio Croci and Benjamin Righetti, continuing at the Hochschule in Lübeck with Arvid Gast. Since 2020 she has been enrolled in the program for church music at the institute in Herford, in the organ class of Stefan Kagl. A first prize winner of the 2013 Wuppertal International Organ Competition, Olga concertizes all over Europe.