CIOC celebrates 85th birthday of founder John Grew

Montréal, April 23 2025 – CIOC founder, organist, Professor, and titan of Canada’s classical-music scene, John Grew celebrates his 85th birthday on April 30, 2025. He co-founded the Canadian International Organ Competition in Montréal, one of the largest and most prestigious organ competitions in the world. He has been awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal and in 2014, he was honoured with the Order of Canada for bringing new vitality to organ music in Canada as a performer and educator.

“John Grew’s impact on the organ world, and the wider world of classical music cannot be overstated. His is a legacy we can all aspire to. Not only is he a tremendous artist, but a generous man in spirit and energy.” says Jean-Willy Kunz, current Artistic Director of the CIOC and Organist-in-Residence with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. John Grew is the founding director of the McGill Summer Organ Academy from 1997 to 2015, and he established the university’s early music program. He has been in the forefront of the mechanical-action organ revival in North America having followed Kenneth Gilbert in 1967 to the position of titular organist of the Beckerath organ in Queen Mary Road Church. This was the first modern mechanical-action organ in a Canadian church. Later he collaborated with organ builder Hellmuth Wolff in the planning of the French Classical organ for Redpath Hall which was inaugurated in 1981. In 1985, he founded Musique Royale, an organization dedicated to bringing world-class music to historic venues throughout Nova Scotia. From 1991 to 1996 he was Dean of Music at McGill.

In 2006, he co-founder, along with Noël Spinelli (1927–2020), the CIOC in Montréal, Québec, one of the largest and most highly regarded competitions for organ music in the world. The CIOC is a leading cultural organization dedicated to the promotion of pipe organ music across Canada. Its activities also include a national concert series and a highly renowned annual international festival in Montréal, dedicated to the pipe organ and its vast repertoire. The CIOC is a key player in promoting and showcasing young and emerging organ talent through its fierce competition, with over $100 000 in prizes attracting the best and brightest of the international organ world to Montréal’s historic organs and exclusive venues.

The CIOC will be honouring John Grew during the Gala concert of the 2025 Grand Organ Festival, beginning in September and continuing throughout the month of October – the month of the organ.