CIOC’s 2025 Grand Organ Festival: Celebrating the Ever-Evolving Instrument

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Despite the organ’s extensive history dating back to the third century BCE, it still holds a vital place in the context of music-making today. The Canadian International Organ Competition (CIOC) proves this with their popular competitions, festivals, and concerts. This year’s Grand Organ Festival highlights up-and-coming organists, various musical genres, and a world premiere.

“The organ is far from a dead instrument,” says Artistic Director Jean-Willy Kunz. Rather, it seems to evolve with the performers, composers, and audiences who enjoy it. During the festival, Kunz will perform on the pipe organ alongside a jazz quintet at Montreal’s St. James United Church (Oct. 3). This group, Inspirationz Ensemble, highlights the organ’s versatility: how it adapts to other musical styles aside from its well-known classical application.

Photo: Tam Photography

A few days later, the festival will feature the world premiere of an organ work commissioned by the CIOC from Canadian organist-composer Rashaan Allwood (Oct. 7). “I think it’s very important to support living and young composers,” Kunz says. “Performers and composers in the organ world have—throughout the centuries—always worked hand-in-hand. And the organ itself has evolved a lot, thanks to those partnerships.” Allwood himself will perform this work, entitled The Smoke of Their Torment, in the intimate organ loft at Église Saint-Jean-Baptiste. His performance marks the beginning of the CIOC’s new series, The Loft Sessions, which supports emerging Canadian creators.

This year’s festival features plenty of other young Canada-based musicians including Adrian Foster of Sound Rebellion Collective (Sept. 20 & 27), Maria Gajraj (Oct. 12), and Henry Webb (Sept. 6 & Oct. 19). Their programs range from experimental organ improvisation to classics of the French organ tradition.

Henry Webb. Photo: Tam Photography

Alongside contemporary applications of the organ, the CIOC considers the value of legacy. With performances by respected and established organists Peter Richard Conte (Oct. 4) and Yves-G. Préfontaine (Oct. 26), they pay homage to those who have dedicated years to the organ, learning its intricacies and nuances.

Kunz says that finding the balance between staying faithful to founder John Grew’s vision and his own vision for the CIOC is a positive challenge. Much like the organ, the organization evolves each year with its growing and changing audience and participants. This year’s Grand Organ Festival celebrates both the instrument’s legacy and its continued relevance.