The winners of the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy University Competition in Composition have been announced
Press release from 12/16/2013
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy University Competition 2014 organised by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, the Rectors' Conference of German Music Universities and the Berlin University of the Arts
Following the great success of last year's reorientation, the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy University Competition 2014 will take place from 15 to 19 January 2014, once again under the artistic direction of Dr Dieter Rexroth. The best musical talents from German music academies will compete in four disciplines: Singing, Constrabass, Ensemble New Music and Composition.
The winners in the composition category were announced at the weekend: the jury, chaired by Prof Jan Müller-Wieland, awarded first prize to Eunsung Kim (Franz Liszt University of Music Weimar) for his competition composition "mobile Elemente" . Francisco Concha Goldschmidt (Cologne University of Music and Dance) was awarded second prize for his work ";;". Third prize went to Josep Planells Schiaffino from the Hanns Eisler School of Music Berlin. His composition is entitled "triosatz". The prize-winning works will be premiered by the ensemble "Studio musikFabrik" as part of the prizewinners' composition concert on 17 January 2014 . The motto of this year's composition competition was "The coming home of the stranger". A great success can be seen in the acceptance of the subject, which was reintroduced as a permanent subject as part of the reorganisation of the competition last year. The number of participants in the competition has doubled this year.
The public competitions for voice, double bass and new music ensemble will take place from 15 to 17 January 2014 in the concert halls of the Berlin University of the Arts. The competition entries will be judged by internationally renowned musicians under the chairmanship of Helen Donath (vocals), Peter Riegelbauer (double bass) and Prof. Konstantia Gourzi (Ensemble Neue Musik). The prizewinners of the Ensemble Neue Musik will present a concert on 18 January 2014, while the final concert on 19 January 2014 will be performed by the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie under the direction of Prof. Steven Sloane together with the prizewinners of the vocal and double bass sections.
The Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy University Competition is the result of two important competitions: the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Competition of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, the oldest German classical music competition, and the University Competition of German Music Universities. The competition was given a new artistic profile in 2012 when they were merged.
Prize money totalling over 50,000 euros is awarded in three annually changing competition subjects and the subject of composition. The concept also includes long-term support for the prizewinners with scholarships, follow-up performances and CD productions.
In addition to the organisers' prizes, the "Prize of the Federal President", which has existed in the form of a scholarship since 1989, is also awarded as part of the competition. The "Friends of Young Musicians Germany" award a sponsorship prize for a participant under the age of 25. In addition, they organise follow-up concerts by the prizewinners in each of their eight member associations (Berlin, Bremen, Düsseldorf/Meerbusch, Frankfurt am Main, Kassel, Cologne/Bonn, Mainz/Wiesbaden and Munich).
The competition's funding instruments also include follow-up concerts at renowned German festivals such as Young Euro Classic or the Kasseler Musiktage.
The first prize winners also receive follow-up funding in the form of a CD production, which is released on the Berlin University of the Arts label. The Mendelssohn vocal production will be supervised by Kulturradio vom rbb. The recordings in the double bass and new music ensemble subjects will be produced by the sound engineering department at the Berlin University of the Arts. These productions are supported by the association "Freunde Junger Musiker Berlin" e. V.
The Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy University Competition goes back to a donation from the heirs of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. In return, the Prussian state pledged to support needy and highly talented students with a scholarship. After the first prizewinner in 1879, Engelbert Humperdinck, numerous important musical personalities such as Wilhelm Backhaus, Otto Klemperer, Kurt Weill and Marie Soldat were honoured. After the Second World War, the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (SPK) resumed the award in 1963 under the name Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Prize, as the historical donation is preserved in the Berlin State Library, one of the five institutions of the SPK. The traditional venue for the competition is the Berlin University of the Arts. A second traditional strand of the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy University Competition is the University Competition of German Music Universities, which has been held annually since the early 1950s and provided the impetus for the founding of the Rectors' Conference of German Music Universities in the post-war years.
Up-to-date information about the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy University Competition can be found on the website www.fmb-hochschulwettbewerb.de. All jury members and participants are presented there in words and pictures. Videos of the final concert in 2013 are also available for viewing. The video livestream of the prizewinners' concert on 19 January 2014 will also be published on this website.
With the kind support of:
Stiftung Deutsche Klassenlotterie Berlin
Berlin Hyp AG
Deutscher Sparkassen- und Giroverband
Freunde Junger Musiker Deutschland
Freunde Junger Musiker e. V. Berlin
Elsa-Wera-Arnold-Stiftung
Prof. Jan Müller-Wieland
Sikorski Musikverlage
Bärenreiter Verlag Kassel
Young Euro Classic Berlin
Kasseler Musiktage e. V.
Junge Deutsche Philharmonie e. V.
Studio musikFabrik
Kulturradio vom Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg
Deutschlandradio Kultur
ALEX
ReserviX
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy University Competition 2014
15 to 17 January 2014, from 10.00 a.m.
Public competitions
Vocal competitions: Kammersaal der UdK Berlin, Fasanenstraße 1 B
Double bass competitions: Carl-Flesch-Saal der UdK Berlin, Bundesallee 1-12
Ensemble Neue Musik competitions: Konzertsaal der UdK Berlin, Hardenbergstraße / corner of Fasanenstraße
Admission free
17 January 2013, 20:00
Prizewinners' concert Composition
World premiere of award-winning works with announcement of the prizewinners for voice, double bass and Ensemble Neue Musik
The ensemble "Studio musikFabrik" will perform.
Berlin University of the Arts, Joseph-Joachim-Konzertsaal, Bundesallee 1-12
Admission: 6 euros, concessions 4 euros
18 January 2013, 17.00
Prizewinners' concert Ensemble Neue Musik
Joseph-Joachim-Konzertsaal der UdK Berlin, Bundesallee 1-12, Berlin-Wilmersdorf
Admission: 6,- Euro, reduced 4,- Euro
19 January 2013, 7.00 pm
Prizewinners' concert for voice and double bass
With the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, conducted by Prof. Steven Sloane
Berlin University of the Arts, concert hall Hardenbergstraße / corner of Fasanenstraße
Admission: 6 euros, concessions 4 euros
Tickets for the two prizewinners' concerts are available from 7 January 2014 from the concert hall box office at Berlin University of the Arts on (030) 3185 2374 or at www.reservix.de
Further information and press tickets from:
Claudia Assmann
Tel. 030 3185 2456
presse(at)fmb-hochschulwettbewerb(dot)de
www.fmb-hochschulwettbewerb.de
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