Maximilian Schnaus wins
An international jury selected the Berlin organist from four finalists. He will play the opening concert of the V. International Church Music Congress on October 21 in Bern.
On March 20, the finale of the International Bern Organ Competition was held as part of the Bern Museum Night, a joint production of the V. International Church Music Congress, the cantars 2015 church music festival, the Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches and the parish of Münster Bern. Samuel Cosandey, Switzerland, Kensuke Ohira, Japan, Maximilian Schnaus, Germany, and Simone Vebber, Italy, played.
The international jury was made up of President Laurent Mettraux, Vice President of the Swiss Association of Musicians, Elisabeth Zawadke, Lucerne University of Music, Bernhard Haas, Munich University of Music, Dominik Susteck, Kunststation St. Peter Köln, and Daniel Glaus, Bern University of the Arts and organist at Bern Minster. As it stated in its report, the jury recommended that the program committee of the V. International Congress of Church MusicMaximilian Schnaus for the opening concert on October 21 in Bern. Samuel Cosandey from Bex, whose playing and visionary programming have received praise, is to perform in another concert. Coïncidences (2013) by Antoine Fachard. The jury was delighted with the performances, saying that all of the presentations were of the highest standard.
The organist and composer Maximilian Schnaus was born in Bad Neustadt in 1986. He studied church music and organ in Hanover and Amsterdam with Pier Damiano Peretti and Jacques von Oortmerssen, among others, and received scholarships from the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation and the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes. In February 2014, he passed his concert exam with distinction in Leo van Doeselaar's class at the Berlin University of the Arts. He has been organist at the Sophienkirche in Berlin-Mitte since 2014.
