HAMBURG - Saturday, September 15, 2001 the committee 'Förderkreis rettet die Nikolaikirche' organized in cooperation with the Scandinavian Carillon School in Løgumkloster, Denmark, an international carillon competition on the carillon of St. Nikolai's tower in Hamburg. Although the tower is a ruin, it is still the highest church tower in Hamburg. The carillon consists of 51 bells, which were cast in 1993 by Royal Eijsbouts in The Netherlands. The keyboard is chromatic from c¹ to d⁵.

COMPETITION
Ten candidates enroled for the competition by sending a cassette with a recording of the compulsary works: Prelude IV from Matthias Van den Gheyn, Prelude posthume in d-klein composed by Jef Denyn, and Evocation written by composer and carillonneur John Courter. Ultimately five candidates were invited to make their appearance and perform anonymously.

PRIZE WINNERS
Charles Dairay from St. Amand-les-Eaux (France) was awarded the first prize (an amount of money: DEM 3.000). The second prize (DEM 2.000) was won by Mathieu Polak from Driebergen (The Netherlands). The third prize valued DEM 1.000 was for Malgorzata Drzewiecka from Gdansk (Poland). The extra prize for the best folk song arrangement was not awarded.

JURY
Members of the jury were Koen Van Assche, Ann-Kirstine Christiansen, Peter Langberg, and Olaf Sandkuhl.