2019 Competition Results

The preliminary round was judged on the basis of submitted recordings, the semi-final round was held at St.George's Round Church in Halifax, with the finals at the Cathedral Church of All Saints.  

The program for the semi-finals and finals is available here.

Congratulations to the winners:

1st  - David Simon - Godfery Hewitt Memorial Prize
2nd - Jocelyn Lafond - Paul Murray Prize
3rd - Alexander Ross - Muriel Gidley Stafford Prize

David Simon is the Organist of the Cathedral of St. James (Anglican) in Toronto. David began his career as a professional organist at the age of twelve, accompanying the nationally-televised Daily Mass at St. Michael’s Cathedral-Basilica. David continues to accompany services at the Cathedral-Basilica, where he began his musical formation as a chorister, in addition to his duties at the Cathedral of St. James. David is a Doctor of Musical Arts candidate at Yale University, where he studies with Thomas Murray. He is a Fellow of the Royal Canadian College of Organists, winning the Healey Willan Prize for highest achievement nationally, and is an Associate of the Royal Conservatory. An active recitalist and accompanist, David has performed across North America, Europe, the United Kingdom, and Russia and has given premieres with the Toronto and New Haven Symphony Orchestras. david.alexander.simon@gmail.com

  Jocelyn Lafond was born in Saint-Hyacinthe (Québec) in 1989. His musical journey, beginning with piano lessons at the age of six, has progressed in the constant pursuit of ways to understand and express music in its many forms. A graduate of the Trois-Rivières Conservatory of Music, Montreal Conservatory of Music and Arts au Carré (Mons Royal Conservatory of Music) in Belgium, he is the holder of a diploma in organ, piano, collaborative piano, choral and orchestral conducting, and classical music writing styles. Also active as a concert artist, arranger, and composer, particularly in the domain of religious music, he has been titular organist at the St-Hyacinthe Cathedral since 2009, in addition to being the chapel master of the Cathedral and Professor at the Trois-Rivières Conservatory of Music (Music Theory and Collaborative piano) since 2017. Jocelyn Lafond is presently studying organ with Hans-Ola Ericsson and Christian Lane at McGill University (Montreal) in the D. Mus. Performance program. He has also singled himself out in many competitions such as the Canada Music Competition, the Lynnwood-Farnam Competition, and the Quebec Organ Competition, in which he won first prizes.

Alexander Ross hails from Goderich, Ontario. In 2011, Alex began his Bachelor of Music in Organ Performance at McGill University with Profs. John Grew and Hans-Ola Ericsson — graduating in 2015 with Honours and Outstanding Performance in Organ. From 2012–2015, Alex was Organ Scholar at Christ Church Cathedral in Montreal where he would assist, accompany and direct under the guidance of Drs. Adrian Foster and Patrick Wedd. In 2015, Alex won first prize in the RCCO Lynwood Farnam Organ Competition. Also in 2015, Alex began not only an Artist Diploma at McGill with Hans-Ola Ericsson and Christian Lane (which he completed in 2019), but also an apprenticeship with the firm of Juget-Sinclair facteurs d’orgues in Montreal. Alex has already been instrumental in the fabrication and voicing of six organs during his apprenticeship as well as three restorations.