Five finalists gave it their all to impress the crowd and judges during their 45 minutes performances at the Longwood Gardens International Organ Competition, writes Kathleen Brady Shea for Chadds Ford Live.

The stakes were high, as the winner would walk away with the $40,000 Pierre S. du Pont Prize that included a contract with Phillip Truckenbrod Concert Artists and a performance date at Longwood Gardens.

The competition took place at Longwood’s elegant ballroom, built by Du Pont in 1929 to house his world-renowned, custom made 10,010-pipe Aeolian organ.

It took the judges an hour to decide who had shown the best skills on the 55-ton instrument in front of the sold-out audience, and in the end, they announced Joshua Stafford, the Director of Music at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Morristown, as the winner.

Alcee Chriss III, an alumnus of the Oberlin Conservatory, won the Firmin Swinnen Second Prize of $15,000, while the Clarence Snyder Third Prize of $5,000 went to Colin MacKnight, who is completing his accelerated bachelor’s and master’s degree program at The Juilliard School.

The Audience Choice Prize of $1,000 went to Greg Zelek, Music Director and Organist at the Episcopal Church of St. Matthew and St. Timothy in New York City.

Paul B. Redman, Longwood Gardens’ Executive Director, explained that the competition came from a desire to connect the organ to contemporary audiences. The inaugural contest took place three years ago, while the next one is planned for 2019.

“I think it goes without saying that we have the 10 best emerging organists in the world here in our ballroom,” he noted.

Read more about the competition at Chadds Ford Live here.