Elizabeth B. Stephens International Organ Competition

The best young organists from around the globe meet here to perform and be judged by a jury of five of the world’s finest performers.  This competition was founded by the family of the late Elizabeth B. Stephens, who was a great supporter of the arts at PRUMC and throughout the city of Atlanta.  Her legacy offers opportunities to young artists to develop their talents and thrive in their vocation. 

The first competition in 2022 received over seventy applicants, twice as many as most other organ competitions here in the U.S. and abroad. Six finalists will once again be invited to Atlanta to compete for prize money totaling $21,000.

Judges, Recorded Round:
Jeremy Filsell
Christopher Houlihan
Sarah Hawbecker

Judges, Final Round:
Jeramy Filsell
Chelsea Chen
Nicole Keller
Thomas Ospital
William Fred Scott

September 2, 2025

Competition Rules Posted

January 5, 2026

Applications Open

February 13, 2026

Applications Close

March 16, 2026

Six Finalists Announced

June 25, 26, 27, 2026

Elizabeth B. Stephens International Organ Competition

June 27, 2026

Final Round Recitals

Congratulations to the winners of the 2024 Elizabeth B. Stephens International Organ Competition!

Congratulations to Magdalena Moser, winner of the 2024 Elizabeth B. Stephens International Organ Competition, taking home $12,000 USD in prize money. Magdalena’s winning recital was a program that paid homage to the many composers who lived and worked in Austria, and included Mozart’s Adagio and Allegro, KV594, Bach’s Concerto in D Minor, BWV 596, and Apparatus Musico-Organisticus from Georg Muffat.

Taking home the second-place prize of $6,000 USD was Canadian Manuel Piazza, who presented a recital with pieces from Mendelssohn, Howells, and Elgar, among others. In third place with a prize of $3,000 USD was Brazil’s Gabriel Dissenha, who delighted the audience with an improvisational piece, alongside works from Bach, Howells, and Reger.

Deliberations took around an hour — the competition was fierce, and all six recitals were thoughtfully produced and skillfully played. Thank you to our final round judges David Briggs, James O’Donnell, Isabelle Demers, Lynne Davis, and Julie Coucheron.

You can watch the recitals in their entirety below.

2024 Winners

Elizabeth B. Stephens International Organ Competition 2024 Contestant, organist Magdalena Moser

Magdalena Moser is an Austrian organist and has been studying with Ulrich Walther at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz. She was awarded several prizes at international organ competitions, among them the Judith-Weir-Prize and the Douglas-May-Award at the International Organ Festival in St Albans (UK), 1st prize at the International Franz Schmidt Organ competition in Vienna in 2020 and 2nd prize at the International Organ competition in Korschenbroich 2019. She attended master classes with Wolfgang Zerer, Peter Planyavsky, Jean-Baptist Dupont, Hannfried Lucke, Naji Hakim and others. Since 2023 she has been teaching organ and improvisation at the Johann-Joseph-Fux conservatory in Graz.

Elizabeth B. Stephens International Organ Competition 2024 Contestant, organist Manuel Piazza

Manuel Piazza is the Assistant Director of Music at St. Thomas’s Anglican Church (Toronto), where he accompanies the High Mass and Evensong choirs and directs the parish’s new children’s choral program, The St. Thomas’s Choristers.

Manuel completed his Bachelor in Organ Performance at the University of Toronto, studying with John Tuttle. He has also performed in masterclasses led by Olivier Latry, William Porter, Stefan Engels, David Briggs, James O’Donnell, Ben van Oosten, Jürgen Essl, Wolfgang Zerer, Christophe Mantoux, Olivier Penin, Fréderic Blanc, and Isabelle Demers. As an undergraduate in Toronto, he served as choir director and organist at Our Lady of Sorrows Roman Catholic Church, organ scholar at Trinity College (UofT), organ scholar at St. James’ Anglican Cathedral, and an organist at St. Michael’s Cathedral Basilica. After graduating, he was the organ scholar at Truro Cathedral in Cornwall (UK), where he played for Evensong three times a week under the direction of Christopher Gray, and performed with ensembles such as the London Sinfonia.

After returning to North America, he won first prize in the 2021 RCCO National Organ Playing Competition. In May 2022, he graduated with an MM from the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, where he studied organ repertoire with Martin Jean and improvisation with Jeffrey Brillhart. Additionally, he served as senior organ scholar at Trinity Church on the Green, where he was mentored by Walden Moore. He also accompanied the Schola Cantorum, conducted by David Hill. The next year, he was Interim Assistant Director of Music at Trinity Church, Boston, working with Colin Lynch. Manuel’s playing has been praised for its “seamless registration changes … imaginative stop selections, smoothly shifting tone colours … (and) abundant energy” in Organ Canada. Other awards include the Godfrey Hewitt Memorial Scholarship, the Mary Baker Scholarship in Organ Accompanying, the Julia R. Sherman Memorial Prize for excellence in organ playing, the Aidan Kavanagh Prize for Academic Achievement, and the Ernest MacMillan Memorial Foundation Prize.

Elizabeth B. Stephens International Organ Competition 2024 Contestant, organist Gabriel Dissenha

Gabriel Dissenha was born in 1997 in Curitiba, Brazil. He started playing piano at the age of 13 and organ at the age of 19. At present he is pursuing a Master’s degree in organ with teachers Sietze de Vries and Erwin Wiersinga in Groningen. He finished his studies in church music (organ under Ulrich Walther) in Graz, Austria, with distinction. Before that he had private lessons in harmony, counterpoint, and piano in Brazil.

He was a prizewinner at international music competitions; among others: 1st prize at the 33rd Rosa Mística Latin American Piano Competition (Curitiba, Brazil); first prize at the Martha-Debelli Organ Competition (Graz); special prize for the best interpretation of baroque music at the Tariverdiev Organ Competition (Kaliningrad, Russia); and the 3rd prize at the Kropfreiter Organ Competition (St. Florian, Austria). He took part in several masterclasses with renowned teachers, including Nathan Laube, Ludger Lohmann, Pieter van Dijk and Michel Bouvard.

In addition to this, he has a YouTube channel in which he posts his own compositions in historical styles, mainly that of J. S. Bach.

Part One of Two:
First Three Recitals

2nd Place winner Manuel Piazza is the third of these first three recitals.

Part Two of Two
Last Three Recitals and Awards

1st Place winner Magdalena Moser is the third of these last three recitals, and 3rd Place winner Gabriel Dissenha is the 2nd of these first three recitals.

2024 Winners

First Place | Magdalena Moser, Austria
Second Place | Manuel Piazza, Canada
Third Place | Gabriel Dissenha, Brazil

Prizes

1st prize – $12,000
2nd prize – $6,000
3rd prize – $3,000

Jury

Recorded Round Jury
David Briggs (chair)
Chelsea Chen

Dr. Oliver Brett

Final Round Jury
David Briggs (Chair)
James O’Donnell
Dr. Isabel Demers
Lynne Davis
Julie Coucheron

Sanctuary Great Organ

Congratulations to the winners of the 2022 Elizabeth B. Stephens International Organ Competition!

Congratulations to Quentin du Verdier, the First Prize winner of the inaugural Elizabeth B. Stephens International Organ Competition. Second prize went to Tom Rioult and Third to Alex Jones.

We are so thrilled with the quality of music making at this year’s competition and offer thanks to our esteemed judges who had a very difficult decision to make among six very talented young organists.

You can watch the recitals in their entirety below.

2022 Winners

From left to right: Tom Rioult (2nd place) Quentin du Verdier (1st place), and Alex Jones (3rd place.)

Elizabeth B. Stephens International Organ Competition 2022.

2022 Winners

First Place | Quentin du Verdier
Second Place | Tom Rioult
Third Place | Alex Jones

Prizes

1st prize – $12,000
2nd prize – $6,000
3rd prize – $3,000

Jury

Recorded Round Jury
David Briggs (chair)
Jens Korndörfer
Oliver Brett

Final Round Jury
David Briggs (Chair)
David Higgs
Alan Morrison
Carole Terry
Jean-Baptiste Robin

Elizabeth B. Stephens International Organ Competition 2022.