We are very excited to announce the results of the 2025 National Organ Competition:
1st place - Godfrey Hewitt Memorial Prize ($6,000): Maria Gajraj
WINNER: Douglas Haas Prize ($1,000), Jan Overduin Audience Prize ($1,000)
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Maria Gajraj is a Montréal-based organist and Doctoral Candidate at McGill University. Her research focuses on 20th-century Caribbean organ repertoire. She is the co-founder of Sapphonix Collective, which promotes women, queer, and racialized classical musicians, and has been featured on CBC Radio. Maria has performed internationally, at venues like Blackburn Cathedral (UK), Maison Symphonique (Montreal), and in series such as Cal Performances and Bergen Orgelsommer. A recipient of the Godfrey Hewitt Scholarship (2022) and other awards, her doctoral research is funded by the FRQ (Fonds de Recherche du Quebec). In her concert programs, Maria is passionate about highlighting women and composers of colour. As Deirdre Piper wrote in “Pipelines”, Maria’s “spirited, clean, and colourful performance lent real meaningful significance” to this music. By creating engaging concert programs, and by featuring the organ in innovative and multidisciplinary contexts, Maria strives to break stereotypes, and to make the organ more accessible to everyone.
2nd place - Paul Murray Memorial Prize ($3,000): Qing Xu
Qing Xu is now a doctorate student at McGill University, where she studies with Isabelle Demers. Prior to commencing her studies in Montreal, she completed her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the China Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing in the class of Yuan Shen, a leading Chinese organist. Her professional career in organ performance began in 2018 when she was selected for the Haarlem International Organ Festival’s “Young Talent” program. The same year, she also won the second prize in Concours International d’orgue de Versailles Jeune Talent (Versailles International Young Concert Organist Competition). In 2021, she won the Special Jury Prize at the 12th International M. Tariverdiev Organ Competition. Ms. Xu has performed the Chinese premiere of numerous works and has given recitals in several cities in China. She worked with composer Chang Qi on her piece Micro-carving, which won the International Kajia Saariaho Organ Composition Competition prize and was performed at the inauguration of the Helsinki Music Centre’s new organ in 2024. As a specialist in late Romantic repertoire, several of Ms. Xu’s articles on this topic have been published in Chinese academic journals.
3rd place - Muriel Gidley Stafford Prize ($1,500): Isaac Howie
Isaac Howie, a Vancouver organist, entered UBC at 15, initially to study Forestry. He finished a B.Mus. in May 2025, studying organ with Michael Dirk and harpsichord/improvisation with Alexander Weimann, along with a major in Classics; he also holds an ARCT in piano performance. Since 2021, he has been organist of Holy Family Parish, Vancouver (FSSP), and has participated in workshops with David Briggs, Edoardo Belotti, David Palmer, Marc D’Anjou, and Denis Bédard. Now a sought-after collaborator, he has played with the Vancouver Symphony, improvised for Silent Movie Mondays at the Orpheum Theatre, featured in Saint-Saëns’ Organ Symphony with the West Coast Symphony, and at Holy Rosary; he also participated in the 2nd Internationaler Feith Orgelwettbewerb last year in Blieskastel, Germany and was selected as winner of the 2025 Godfrey Hewitt Annual Memorial Scholarship. Isaac was President of the RCCO Vancouver Centre from 2024 - 25, and his choral work has been premiered by the Vancouver Chamber Choir. In September 2025, he will begin an M.Mus. with renowned historical improviser Sietze de Vries at the Prins Claus conservatoire in Groningen, Netherlands.
We would also like to congratulate the three other semi-finalists: Peter Bayer, Samuel Lee and Aron Sipos. The jury commented on the very high standard of all of the candidates who advanced to the last stages of the competition. The semi-final and final rounds were held earlier in July at Organ Festival Canada 2025 in Kitchener-Waterloo-Guelph, Ontario.
In addition, we would like to extend our thanks to this year's jurors: Marnie Giesbrecht, Stephanie Martin, Gregg Redner, Lee Willingham and Patricia Wright, as well as the jurors for the preliminary round: Lottie Enns-Braun, Andrew Henderson and Jonathan Oldengarm. Click here to read more about the jury members.
