Monica Czausz Wins National Organ Competition

January 29 at Oklahoma City University, there was a national competition for high-school-aged organ students. By unanimous decision of the judges, the winner was Monica Czausz of Chicopee, a student of Peter Beardsley. She played the Bach G-Major Trio Sonata (complete), the first movement of Vierne III, and the hymn Lobet den Herren with an elaborate introduction, modulation, and free accompaniment. She is pictured here at the 1968 Holtkamp organ in the chapel at Oklahoma City University.
A junior at Chicopee High School, Monica is also the Organist and Choir Director at St. Paul's Church in Holyoke. She is a member of Springfield Symphony Chorus and the Springfield Chapter AGO, and is involved in many other musical activities both in and out of school.
Because of airport delays due to weather, Monica arrived in Oklahoma in the middle of the night. The next day, she won the competition and, that evening, presented the winner's recital in the University Chapel, on which she also played the Duruflé Veni Creator. There was a substantial cash prize for the winner, and the promise of a scholarship should Monica decide to attend college there.
Monica played the first in a series of recitals dedicating the renovated Austin organ of Christ Church Cathedral in Springfield, on 7:30 Friday evening, February 25.