Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Competition 2007 decided - prizewinners' concert tomorrow
Press release from 01/13/2007
Following a two-day competition, the winners of the 2007 Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Prize have been announced today: Li-Chun Su from the Berlin University of the Arts in the piano category and the duo Pauline Reguig (violin) and Emilio Peroni (piano) from the Rostock University of Music and Theatre. The Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation awards the prize, which is one of the most outstanding prizes for young musicians in Germany, in co-operation with Germany's state music academies. In two annually changing subjects, the best of Germany's music academies - this year seven participants per subject - face the jury at the Berlin University of the Arts.
The competition has since established another prize, the "Chamber Music Prize of the Friends of Young Musicians", which is committed to the same goals: the promotion of young musical talent. It is also awarded to the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy prizewinners in the duo violin/piano category and enables further concert appearances for the prizewinners. In addition, the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation has awarded a sponsorship prize to the duo Marie-Claudine Papadopoulos (violin) and Jovana Nikolic (piano) from the Karlsruhe University of Music.
The competition has also been awarding the "Scholarship of the Federal President for the Promotion of Young Musicians" for many years, which this year went to Alexander Schimpf (piano) from the Würzburg University of Music.
Klaus-Dieter Lehmann, President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, emphasises: "Every year we see impressive young musicians at the beginning of their artistic careers, a gift for us and an opportunity for the young talents. The competition also sets an example - for a hopefully strengthening co-operation between the state, experts and patrons for the productive promotion of young artistic talent." Tomorrow evening, he will honour the winners at the prizewinners' concert.
Prizewinners' concert
with works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Arnold Schönberg and Ferruccio Busoni
Sunday, 14 January 2007, 7 pm
Konzertsaal der Universität der Künste Berlin, Hardenbergstr. 1 (Tiergarten)
Free tickets are available at the box office.
The prizewinners:
Li-Chun Su, born in Taipei in 1980, won a prize at a national piano competition in Taiwan at the age of ten. She studied piano and singing at the Taipei National University of the Arts from 1998 and at the Berlin University of the Arts (with Martin Hughes and Laszlo Simon) from 2001. Her studies are currently focussed on "The Well-Tempered Clavier" Volume I by J.S. Bach with Professor Mitzi Meyerson (harpsichord), Laszlo Simon (piano) and Hartmut Faldt (music theory and musicology). She has won prizes at numerous national and international singing and piano competitions (3rd prize at the "Berlin Competition" in 2004, sponsorship prize at the "Artur Schnabel Competition" in 2005, together with Tobias Bloos she was awarded the scholarship of the Federal President in the duo violoncello/piano category at the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Competition in 2006, 4th place at the "XV. International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition" in Leipzig 2006). Li-Chun Su actively participates in the organisation of Berlin's musical life. Since 2001, she has regularly performed piano concerts with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra in the Berlin Philharmonie. She is a scholarship holder of the Paul Hindemith Society and the Ottilie Selbach Foundation and was selected as a NaFöG scholarship holder (Young Talent Promotion Act) in December 2005.
Born in Toulouse, 22-year-old Pauline Reguig began her violin studies at the age of seven. In 1999, she was awarded the "First Prize with Congratulations" in the Radio France Youth Music Competition and took part in numerous concerts in 2001. She has been a student of Petru Munteanu at the Rostock University of Music and Theatre since 2002 and a member of the "Concertino" ensemble since 2003. She performs as a soloist, chamber musician and concertmaster in Germany and abroad. In 2006, she won 1st prize and the Mozart Prize in the Rostock "HMT Music Prize" competition. Pauline Reguig has taken part in masterclasses with renowned violinists such as Pavel Vernikov, Eduard Wulfson, Kristof Barati, Tchikashi Tanaka, Roland Masin, Viktor Pikaysen and others. She plays a violin made by Claude Pirot in 1806.
Emilio Peroni, born in 1977 in Neuquén, Argentina, completed his studies at the music school in his home town in 1998, graduating as a piano teacher. Studies with Miguel Martin Morales at the University del Comahue, Aldo Antognazzi (Argentina), Ángel Soler (Barcelona) and Carlo Bruno (Italy) led him to the Rostock University of Music and Theatre, where he has been taught by Bernd Zack since 2002. Emilio Peroni is the winner of several Argentinian piano competitions (1st Neuquén Competition, "Oscar Lorenzo Fernández" Competition, 5th "Pau Casals" Competition and 6th "Bienal Juvenil 2001-2002" Competition) and prizewinner of the 7th "Homage to Alberto Williams" Piano Competition, the "Drago Mitre 1998 Scholarship" Piano Competition, Buenos Aires, the "Mozarteum Argentino" and the "Premi Zanuy" International Piano Competition, Berga (Spain). He has been sponsored by the DAAD and the KAAD. His busy concert schedule as a soloist and chamber music partner has also taken him to England, Italy, the Netherlands and Germany.
Marie Claudine Papadopolous (violin) was born in 1987. She received her first violin lessons at the age of five at the "Conservatoire National de Région de Strasbourg". She has been studying at the Karlsruhe University of Music in Ulf Hoelscher's class since 2002. She has won prizes in the following competitions: "Leopold Bellan" (Paris 2000), UFAM (Paris 2000) and "Vatelot" (Paris 2001) as well as being a finalist in the "Andrea Postachini" (Formo 2002, 2004), "Oldenburger Promenade" (2003) and "Henri Marteau" (Lichtenberg 2005) competitions, where she also received a special prize for the best interpretation of J.S. Bach. Marie Claudine Papadopolous gives concerts in France, Italy, Germany and Denmark and performs as a soloist with symphony and chamber orchestras at various festivals. Since March 2006, she has been a scholarship holder of the Villa Musica Foundation (Rhineland-Palatinate). She plays on a violin by Johannes Franciscus Pressenda from 1843, which was made available to her by the Baden-Württemberg State Collection.
Jovana Nikolic (piano), born in Belgrade in 1984, was accepted into the Belgrade Music Academy with Nevena Popovic at the age of fifteen. In 2002/2003, she studied in parallel with Eugen Indjic in Paris. Since the 2005/2006 winter term, she has been taught by Michael Uhde and Markus Stange at the Karlsruhe University of Music. In recent years, she has received scholarships and prizes at national and international competitions ("Carl Czerny Competition" in Prague, "N. Rubinstein Competition" in Paris). Jovana Nikolic has given concerts in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, France, Italy, Germany and Croatia. She has also made numerous radio and television recordings in Belgrade.
Alexander Schimpf (piano), born in Göttingen in 1981, studied with Wolfgang Manz in Hanover and Wilfried Apel in Dresden and has been studying with Bernd Glemser at the Würzburg University of Music since 2003 (in the masterclass since 2006). His honours: 1st prize and special prize at the "Robert Schumann Competition for Young Pianists" in Zwickau, 1st prize winner at the "Grotian-Steinweg Competition" in Braunschweig and sponsorship prize winner at the "International Competition for Young Pianists" in Ettlingen. The pianist is a sponsorship candidate of the "International Forum for Culture and Business Dresden" and a scholarship holder of the "Villa Musica Rheinland-Pfalz". Performances as a soloist, with orchestras and frequently as a chamber musician in various formations have already taken him to numerous German cities and other European countries. He has appeared in radio and television productions for NDR, SWR and Radio France.
The Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Prize - Germany's oldest music prize
The prize was established by the Prussian state in 1878: It was the ideal counter-gift for the donation of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's music manuscripts and archive to the royal library (now the Berlin State Library - Prussian Cultural Heritage) by the composer's heirs. From then on, Prussia financed scholarships that benefited highly talented young people and promoted their artistic careers. The Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation has been awarding this prize since 1963.
In addition to his own compositions, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy has gone down in the history of music in a way that makes him particularly suitable as the namesake of the prize: he always saw the quality of the performers as the decisive factor. In 1843, he also founded the first music conservatory in Germany in Leipzig.
Students from the 23 state music academies in Germany are invited to take part in the competition. Specialist jurors from Germany's music academies form the jury. Well-known musicians are among the prize winners: Engelbert Humperdinck, Wilhelm Backhaus, Wilhelm Kempff, Kurt Weill from the older generation, the pianist Nina Tichmann, the singer Matthias Hölle and the cellist Georg Faust as prize winners from the seventies are to be mentioned here.