European Organ Academy

Born in 1978, Daniel Beilschmidt studied the organ under Arvid Gast, Ullrich Böhme, Volker Bräutigam, Stefan Johannes Bleicher, Hans Fagius, Søren Christian Westergård, Bernhard Klapprott and Michael Kapsner in Leipzig, Copenhagen and Weimar, culminating in a concert examination. Since 2015, he has been an artistic staff member at the University of Music and Theatre Leipzig, and has been the University Organist in Leipzig since 2009. From 2009 to 2015, he was assistant organist at St Thomas' Church in Leipzig. Since 2021, he has been the organist at Altenburg Castle, as well as the artistic director of the International Thuringian Organ Academy and the director of the Altenburg Junior Organ Academy, founded in 2022. In his role as Artistic Director, he represented the city of Altenburg within the European network ECHO (European Cities of Historical Organs) in 2025.

Daniel Beilschmidt's concerts have taken him beyond Germany to numerous European countries, as well as to Mexico, Argentina, Australia and the USA. As an improviser, he performs in a variety of contexts, including liturgy, dance theatre, free jazz and electroacoustic music. Since 2020, he has been performing a complete cycle of Bach's works in Leipzig and, since 2022, in Altenburg too. His debut CD, featuring Messiaen's Méditations sur le Mystère de la Sainte Trinité, was released in 2013. In 2017, he received the German Record Critics' Award for Fortuna desperata. In 2025, his first recording on the Trost organ in Altenburg featuring Bach's Orgelbüchlein was released.

is Professor of Organ at the Universität der Künste Berlin. He enjoys a recital career that takes him to instruments and festivals throughout the world.

He is regularly invited to serve as a jury member for international competitions. His students include prize-winners at competitions in the UK, The Netherlands, Denmark, Germany and the USA.

Henry was a prize-winner in numerous international organ competitions, including First Prize & Special Prize in Odense (DK), Prix Maurice Duruflé in Chartres (FR), Concerto Gold Medal in Paris (FR). His teachers included David Saint, Thierry Mechler, Susan Landale, David Sanger and Michael Radulescu.

From 2005-2020 he taught at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire (U.K), and was a Visiting Professor at the Musikhochschule Leipzig from 2018-2020. He has been an Honorary Professor of Organ at the University of St Andrews since 2014.

At the start of the winter semester 2020/2021 Henry moved to Berlin to take up the position of Professor of Organ at the Universität der Künste. In 2023 he took on the additional position of Adjunct Professor of Organ at the Suddanskmusikkonservatorium in Esbjerg, Denmark.

https://www.henryfairs.com/

is professor for organ improvisation at University of Music and Theatre Leipzig and head of church music studies.

Born 1971 in Hanover, Lennartz studied church music, organ and organ improvisation in Hanover, Cologne, Leipzig and Paris and graduated from the soloist class with distinction and with the A-Diploma in church music. Important teachers were Ullrich Bremsteller, Arvid Gast, Volker Bräutigam, Thierry Escaich and Loïc Mallié, in masterclasses he also worked with Daniel Roth, Olivier Latry, Wolfgang Seifen, Ton Koopman and others.

Thomas Lennartz received a scholarship of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and was a prize-winner in a number of international competitions for organ improvisation including St. Albans / England, Saarbrücken „Orgues sans frontières“ and Schwäbisch Gmünd.

From 2003 to 2008 Lennartz worked as a church musician in Bingen am Rhein. In 2008 he was appointed as cathedral organist in Dresden (former „Hofkirche“) with the famous Gottfried Silbermann Organ. In 2014 he became professor in Leipzig.

Thomas Lennartz enjoys playing concerts in Germany, various countries of Europe, the USA and Japan. He is regularly invited to give masterclasses.

studied at the Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Bratislava, Slovakia, and the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, Austria. Her organ teachers were Ján Vladimír Michalko and Peter Planyavsky, respectively. Studying with Jean Guillou and subsequently collaborating with him had a particularly formative influence on her.

From 2000 to 2008, she taught organ and organ improvisation at the Academy of Music in Bratislava. From 2006 to 2013, she was the resident organist at the Benedictine Abbey of Our Lady of the Scots in Vienna. During this time, she founded the international organ festival 'Dialogues Mystiques' and served as its artistic director. In 2011, to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Franz Liszt’s birth, she established the Vienna Franz Liszt Society, of which she is president. Since 2014, she has been ‘organiste co-titulaire’ at the historic Bedos-Th. Puget organ in the Basilica of Notre Dame des Tables in Montpellier, France. She has lived in Fribourg, Switzerland since 2015.

Zuzana Ferjenčíková has won several prizes at international organ competitions, including the Opava Organ Competition (1996, 1st prize for improvisation), the International Competition for Organ Improvisation in Brno (1997, 1st prize for improvisation and the title ‘Lauréat’) and the Premio Valentino Bucchi in Rome (2003, 1st prize). In 2004, she became the first woman to win first prize at the International Organ Improvisation Competition in Haarlem. She has served as a jury member at several organ competitions, including the International Organ Competition at Saint-Maurice Abbey in 2013, the International Organ Improvisation Competition in Haarlem in 2014, and the International Organ Improvisation Competition in Schwäbisch Gmünd in 2015.

https://ferjencikova.info

is professor of organ at the University of Iowa. Prior to this appointment, he held the position of university chapel organist at Northwestern University, where he also taught in the music theory department. He was awarded a Doctorate of Musical Arts degree from the University of Michigan, where he studied organ with James Kibbie and harpsichord with Edward Parmentier.

Gregory Hand is in high demand as a performer and pedagogue. He has given recitals and masterclasses in the United States, France, Spain, Germany and Brazil, and served on the jury for national and international organ competitions, including the Internationale Orgelwoche Nürnberg (ION), the Mikael Tariverdiev Organ Competition and the Sursa National Organ Competition. His articles on organ literature and pedagogy have appeared in The American Organist Magazine, The Diapason, Organ - Journal für die Orgel, The Organ (U.K.), and Notes, the Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association.

His debut CD, “The Complete Gospel Preludes of William Bolcom” marked the world premiere recording of all twelve of these landmark pieces. He also was the first organist to play all twelve Gospel Preludes in one concert: first at the University of Michigan with the composer in attendance, and later at Princeton University, University of Glasgow, St Giles Cathedral (Edinburgh), and the Twin Cities (MN) chapter of the American Guild of Organists.

Gregory Hand has participated in several international organ competitions, including the Grand Prix de Chartres (France), St. Albans (England), Prix Andre Marchal (France), and the Dublin International Organ Competition.

was born in Düsseldorf in 1989. He studied church music, specialising in organ and improvisation under Martin Schmeding and Karl Ludwig Kreutz respectively, as well as historical keyboard instruments and harpsichord under Robert Hill, at the State University of Music in Freiburg. He has won numerous awards at competitions, including first prize in Lübeck (2009), Bellelay (2011) and the International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition in Leipzig (2012), as well as prizes in Ljubljana (2007), Herford (2008) and the ARD Competition in Munich (2011). He received scholarships from the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben and the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes, among others, and is committed to an intensive worldwide concert career. From 2016 to 2021, he was Cantor at the Friedenskirche in Potsdam-Sanssouci, as well as a lecturer at the Institute for Church Music at the Berlin University of the Arts. Since 2022, he has been the Thomas Organist at St Thomas's Church in Leipzig. In the same year, he was awarded the Markgräfler Art Prize in recognition of his artistic achievements. He teaches the organ at the HMT Leipzig, which appointed him an honorary professor in 2023.

Particular attention was attracted by his initiative for the 'Gravity Bach' project: on Reformation Day 2025, he performed all of Johann Sebastian Bach's organ works at St Thomas's Church in Leipzig over the course of 22 hours. This event was broadcast worldwide via ARTE Concert.

is professor in the practice of organ and sacred music at the Yale School of Music and the Yale Institute of Sacred Music. Prior to this, he was the organist and master of the choristers at Westminster Abbey for twenty-three years. There, he led the Abbey’s music department and oversaw all musical aspects of the Abbey’s work, including directing the celebrated Choir of Westminster Abbey. He was also responsible for the music at royal, state and national occasions.

Internationally recognized as a conductor and organ recitalist, James O’Donnell has performed all over the world, including the United States, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and throughout Europe. As soloist and director James O’Donnell has worked with many of Britain’s leading ensembles.

He is music director of St James’ Baroque and appears regularly with the BBC Singers. He is visiting professor of organ and of choral conducting at the Royal Academy of Music and was president of the Royal College of Organists from 2011–13. He is an honorary fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge, and Doctor of Music honoris causa of the University of Aberdeen.

was born in 1975 and studied church music, music education, recorder and organ, choir and orchestra conducting, harpsichord, and music theory in Hannover, Amsterdam and Düsseldorf. Among his teachers are Ulrich Bremsteller, Lajos Rovatkay, Hans van Nieuwkoop, Jacques van Oortmerssen and Jean Boyer. He was a prizewinner in many competitions, among them the Mendelssohn Bartholdy in Berlin, the Pachelbel in Nuremberg, the German music competition in Berlin/Bonn, the European competition for young organists in Ljubljana/Slovenia, and the Musica antiqua in Bruges/Belgium. Martin Schmeding was choir director and organist of the Nazareth Church in Hanover, worked at the Neander Church in Düsseldorf ansd was titular organist of the Kreuzkirche in Dresden from 2002 until 2004. He has taught as professor of organ at the University of Music in Freiburg from 2004 to 2016, where he was also the chair of the church-music and organ department. Since 2016 he is professor for artistic organ playing at the University of Music and Theatre Leipzig and artistic director oft he European Organ Academy Leipzig. 2017 Martin Schmeding was awarded "Professor of the Year", since 2018 he is visiting professor at the Royal Conservatoire Birmingham.
Martin Schmeding has made numerous radio and CD recordings, among them the complete organ music of F. Schmidt, J. Brahms, F. Mendelssohn Bartholdy, as well as the first recordings on a period instrument of the complete music for pedal piano by Robert Schumann and of the organ version of the Goldberg Variations by J. S. Bach on a baroque instrument. He has written for many publications and has given concerts as a soloist, chamber musician and with orchestras all over the world. In 2021, he obtained his doctorate with a thesis on Wolfgang Rihm's organ and early works. Martin Schmeding is also active as a guest-lecturer at master-classes, publishes articles and music editions for important magazines and publishers. Engagements as a juror at competitions, conductor and composer complete his artistic career. Since 2024 he is Visiting Artist at the Royal College of Music in London.

www.martin-schmeding.de

Titulaire of the grand organ at Saint-Eustache Church in Paris, Organist in Residence at Maison de la Radio (Radio France Concert Hall) and recently appointed Organ Professor at the Paris Conservatoire (CNSMDP). Thomas Ospital is a young artist who has quickly earned a place amongst the world’s finest concert organists.

A laureate of several competitions, he was awarded First Prize at the 2009 International Competition of Organ in Saragossa, Spain, the Duruflé-Prize and the Audience Prize at the 2012 International Chartres Competition, and Second Prize at the 2013 International Xavier Darasse Competition in Toulouse. In May of 2014 he took the Grand Prize Jean Louis Florentz and the Audience Prize at the International Organ Competition of Angers under the direction of the Académie des Beaux-Arts. And most-recently, in November of 2014 he was awarded Second Prize, Audience Prize and the Florentz Prize at the International Chartres Competition.

Mr. Ospital is equally at home performing as a solo recitalist or with choir or orchestra. He is also eager to perpetuate the art of improvisation in all of its forms, including the accompaniment of silent films. His performances have taken him throughout Europe, including the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Greece, Germany, Switzerland and Holland. He has also performed in Russia and in North America, where in 2012 he served for six months as Young Artist in Residence at the Cathedral-Basilica of Saint Louis King of France in New Orleans, USA.

Born in 1990, Thomas Ospital began his musical studies at the Conservatoire Maurice Ravel in Bayonne, France, completing his studies with Esteban Landart in 2008 (Mention Très bien à l’unanimité). From 2008 until 2015 he was a student at the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique de Paris where he earned five First Place prizes in organ, improvisation, harmony, counterpoint and fugue. His teachers at the Paris Conservatoire included Olivier Latry, Michel Bouvard, Thierry Escaich, Philippe Lefebvre, László Fassang, Isabelle Duha, Pierre Pince and Jean-François Zygel.

Mr. Ospital currently serves as Titular Organist of the largest pipe organ in France; the Grand Organ at St. Eustache in Paris. He took up the post in 2015 when he succeeded Jean Guillou. Mr. Ospital is also the newly-appointed Organist in Residence at the Maison de la Radio (Radio France) where he presides over the new concert hall organ built by Grenzing.

https://www.thomasospital.com