Final Round of the Arthur Poister Scholarship Competition in Organ Playing
Friday April 4
7:00 p.m.
Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception
259 E Onondaga Street, Syracuse

The Arthur Poister Scholarship Competition celebrates the rich legacy of Arthur Poister through recognition of outstanding young artists in the U.S. and Canada. Since 1975, organists at the collegiate and early professional level have competed in Syracuse, NY.  
Three finalists — Martin Jones, Celina Kobetitsch, and Alex Little — were selected to compete in the final round based on their preliminary round recordings. Please join us in person at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception to hear their live performances and cast your vote for the Will O. Headlee audience prize. We are excited to host this storied competition in the gorgeous acoustics of the Cathedral for the first time!

Please note: complimentary parking for competition attendees will be available in the following lots:

• Cathedral parking lot (Onondaga Street, next to the Cathedral)
• Chancery parking lot (Onondaga Street, across from the Cathedral)
• Park Central Presbyterian Church parking lots (both sides of Fayette Street, about a 10 minute walk from the Cathedral)

The following prizes will be awarded at the conclusion of the finals:

• First Prize: $5000, funded by the Syracuse Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, and a recital engagement in Syracuse in Autumn 2025. 
• Second Prize: $3000, funded by the Arthur Poister Endowment Fund of Syracuse University.
• Third Prize: $1500, funded by the Syracuse Chapter of the American Guild of Organists.
• Will O. Headlee Audience Prize: $500, funded by Eugene Tobey in memory of Donald Ingram and Will Headlee.

The judges for the final round will be Nathaniel Gumbs, Director of Chapel Music at Yale University; Colin MacKnight, Director of Music at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Little Rock, Arkansas; and Caroline Robinson, Assistant Professor of Organ at the University of Michigan’s School of Music, Theatre, and Dance.

Please consider using the donate button at the bottom of the page to add your contribution to the competition to ensure that it continues. 

Meet the 2025 Poister Competition Finalists

Martin Jones

Martin Jones is studying for a Doctorate of Organ at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music in Houston, Texas with Ken Cowan. He holds a Masters of Organ from the Hochschule für Musik und Theater “Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy” in Leipzig, Germany where he studied with Martin Schmeding. Martin served as Assistant Organist of the Schlosskirche, Altenburg where he played the historic Trost organ of 1739. He won first prize in the 2023 RCCO National Competition in Toronto, Canada. In 2021 he was the winner of the Sir Ernest MacMillan Memorial Foundation Prize and the Godfrey Hewitt Memorial Scholarship. Martin has played in masterclasses with many prominent organists including Leon Berben, Peter Richard Conte, Isabelle Demers, Pieter Dirksen, Leo van Doeselaar, Jürgen Essl, Hans Fagius, Janette Fishell, Bernard Foccroulle, John Grew, David Higgs, Paul Jacobs, Olivier Latry, Nathan Laube, Alan Morrison, Kola Owalabi, Jean-Baptiste Robin, Daniel Roth, Wolfgang Zerer.. Martin holds a Bachelor of Music in Organ Performance from Rice University. He is a graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy, where he studied with Thomas Bara, and is a former American Boychoir chorister. He currently serves as Associate Organist of Christ the King Lutheran Church, Houston. Martin has a keen interest in writing transcriptions. Recent arrangements for solo organ include Bach’s D Minor Harpsichord Concerto (BWV 1052), the final movement of Mozart’s 41st “Jupiter” Symphony, and Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream Overture. Martin active as a continuo player and regularly performs with the Houston Bach Society.

Celina Kobetitsch

Award-winning organist Celina Kobetitsch regularly appears in concerts throughout Europe and the United States. She currently serves as Organist at St. Philip the Deacon Lutheran Church in Plymouth, Minnesota, where she helps lead a robust music program. She previously served as the Associate Director of Music at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Little Rock, Arkansas. Born in Cleveland, Ohio and raised in Naperville, Illinois, Celina has seen much of the world since. She completed her organ master’s degree with high honors at the Hochschule für Musik in Leipzig, where she studied with Martin Schmeding and Nicolas Berndt. In 2020, she was the recipient of a U.S. Fulbright research grant to complete a year of music research in Germany, and in 2022, she received the highly selective DAAD music scholarship to continue her studies there. Other notable organ prizes include first prize at the Fugato Organ Competition, the Ruth and Paul Manz Organ Scholarship, the AGO Young Composer Prize, and awards from the Kölner Stiftungsfonds. Before studying in Germany, she studied on historic organs for nearly two years in southern France, pursuing an artist diploma at the Conservatoire de Toulouse under the renowned organist Michel Bouvard. She has also done postgraduate studies with Stefan Engels at Southern Methodist University, and she holds a bachelor’s degree in piano performance from Oberlin Conservatory of Music.

Alexander Little

Alex Little is a candidate for the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Organ Performance and Literature at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, studying with David Higgs. He is also a candidate for the Artist’s Certificate at Eastman. Born and raised in the U.K., he was a chorister at Norwich Cathedral before studying at Merton College, Oxford, where he completed his undergraduate degree in music and a master’s degree in musicology. At Merton, he was organ scholar then assistant organist for the college’s two choirs. His duties included accompanying regular services in the college chapel, as well as CD recordings, radio broadcasts, and international tours in Europe, North America, and Asia. While at Oxford he studied organ with William Whitehead, and later also travelled to Copenhagen and Lund to study with renowned Swedish organist Hans Fagius with a grant from the Royal Philharmonic Society. 

Alex won the 2023 Lynnwood Farnam Organ Competition in Montreal, having previously won Second Prize in the 2022 International Buxtehude Competition in Lübeck (Germany), and Third Prize at the Northern Ireland International Organ Competition in 2018. At Eastman he was awarded the James B. Cochran Award for best recital in 2022-23. He is currently Director of Music and Organist at St. Anne’s Catholic Church in Rochester, NY, having previously held the position of Assistant Organist at Christ Church Episcopal.

Online Application Form
Photos of Cathedral console

Please use the Paypal button below to donate to the Poister Competition.

For more information, send inquiries to:
poistercompetition@gmail.com