Dallas International Organ Competition

October 25, 2000

Pipedreams broadcast 2043 takes us to the Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas where three young artists vie for the gold prize.

Listen to the finals of the Dallas International Organ Competition 2000.

	James Diaz

James Diaz:

(First Prize Winner, $30,000)
Born in Edison, New Jersey, James Diaz’s family moved to Columbus, Ohio, at age ten, where as a child, he played the piano and developed an early interest in J.S. Bach. His interest in organ began in college. After obtaining his Bachelor of Music degree on a full scholarship at the University of Michigan, Mr. Diaz received his Master of Music degree at the Cleveland Institute of Music, partially on a Cleveland Museum of Art Musart Scholarship. The 29-year-old American won the Gold Medal and Concerto Prizes at the 1994 Calgary International Organ Festival and Competition in Calgary, Canada. He is featured on a recording of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra released by New World Records in 1995. Currently, Mr. Diaz is Organist and Choirmaster at Saint Michaels and All Angels Church in Dallas, Texas, and counts electronic projects, audio recordings and the study of liturgy among his hobbies.

 

	Gunther Rost

Gunther Rost:

(Second Prize Winner, $10,000)
Gunther Rost was born in Wurzburg, Germany and as a child was fascinated with the music of J.S. Bach, Richard Wagner and the piano performances of Glenn Gould. Subsequent to receiving his Diploma of Sacred Music from Hochschule fur Musik in Wurzburg, Mr. Rost continues his studies with master classes, while teaching organ and harmony at the Hermann Zilcher Konservatorium and the Hochschule fur Musik in Wurzburg. He was a recent winner of the Scholarship of the Richard Wagner Festival, Bayreuth, Germany; the Scholarship of the Cite Internationale des Arts de Paris; and the Menuhin Foundation Scholarship. In 1999, recital engagements took the 25-year-old German to Bonn and Hannover, Germany. His hobbies include science and swimming.

 

	Bradley Welch

Bradley Welch:

(Third Prize Winner, $5000; Audience Prize Winner, $5000)
Bradley Welch was born and raised in Knoxville, Tennessee. Inspired by the organist at his church, he started organ lessons at age 12. Following graduation from Baylor University in Waco, Texas, where he won the Thelma Jackson Organ Scholarship, he is now completing his Artist Diploma at the Yale University School of Music/Yale Institute of Sacred Music. Attending on a full scholarship, the 24-year-old was the recipient of the Robert Baker and Charles Ives Prizes. Mr. Welch won first prize in the AGO Region VII Competition for Young Organists in 1995, in the same year being named a finalist at the national level in the Music Teachers National Association Competition (Organ Division). During the past few years, he has played numerous recitals in churches in Tennessee, Connecticut, Texas and Massachusetts.