Germany's oldest young classical music competition starts advance sales for January 2019
Press release from 12/20/2018
On 20 January 2019, the winners of the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy University Competition will perform with the Konzerthausorchester Berlin under the direction of Corinna Niemeyer at the Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt. Germany's oldest competition for young classical musicians will be held in 2019 in the categories cello and organ. Tickets for all concerts within the competition are available now.
From 16 to 20 January, the best students from 24 German music academies will come to Berlin. They will be competing for the coveted awards and prize money totalling over 20,000 euros, including the "Prize of the Federal President", the only cash prize awarded by the Federal President in the field of music. The first prize winners will also receive a CD production, which will be released on "betont", the UdK Berlin's own label. A maximum of two students will be selected by the universities themselves and registered for the competition.
The public organ competitions will take place on 16, 17 and 18 January in the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. The talented young cellists will perform in parallel in the Joseph Joachim Concert Hall of the Berlin University of the Arts. The competition participants will have the opportunity to demonstrate their skills in front of high-calibre juries. Gustav Rivinius will chair the jury for the cello category. The titular organist of the Elbphilharmonie, Iveta Apkalna, has been recruited for the organ category. Admission to the competition is free.
On 19 January, the four best participants in the cello category will compete in a final concert. They will have the choice between Haydn's Cello Concerto No. 2, Schumann's Cello Concerto in A minor and Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations for Cello and Orchestra. They will perform the selected works together with the Konzerthausorchester Berlin under the direction of Corinna Niemeyer in the concert hall of the Berlin University of the Arts.
Together with the Konzerthausorchester and the young conductor, the competition winners will perform for the first time at the Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt on 20 January 2019. Friends of contemporary music should be particularly excited about this concert. In addition to an overture by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and a cello concerto, the programme includes three world premieres: Christian Jost wrote a piece for solo cello especially for the competition, while composer José-Mariá Sánchez-Verdú wrote a work for solo organ. Marc David Ferrum, who won first prize in the composition category in 2018, will premiere a work for cello, performed by former prizewinner Konstanze von Gutzeit.
The artistic director of the competition since spring 2016 is Sebastian Nordmann, artistic director of the Konzerthaus Berlin. The competition is under the patronage of Gewandhauskapellmeister
Andris Nelsons. The competition is jointly organised by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, the Rectors' Conference of German Music Universities and the Berlin University of the Arts.
New this year is an espresso concert on 16 January 2019 at the Konzerthaus Berlin, featuring two pianists who were awarded a prize in the previous year.
Information about the competition, the concerts, the juries, all participants and the prizes can be found on the competition website.
Partners and sponsors of the competition
Konzerthaus Berlin
Gesellschaft zur Verwertung von Leistungsschutzrechten
Freunde Junger Musiker e. V. Berlin
Freunde Junger Musiker Deutschland
Elsa-Wera-Arnold-Stiftung
betont
form-art.tv
Musikverlag Ries & Erler
Kulturradio vom rbb
Deutschlandfunk Kultur
reservix
The dates at a glance
Espresso concert with prizewinners from the previous year
16 January 2019, 2 pm
Konzerthaus Berlin
Gendarmenmarkt, 10117 Berlin
Admission: 8 euros
Public cello competitions
16 to 18 January 2019, from 10 am
Joseph-Joachim-Konzertsaal der UdK Berlin
Bundesallee 1 - 12,
10719 Berlin-Wilmersdorf
Admission free
Public organ competition
16 and 17 January 2019, both from 10 am,
18 January 2019 from 11 am
Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis-Kirche
Breitscheidplatz, 10789 Berlin
Admission free
Final concert violoncello
19 January 2019, 4 pm
Concert hall of the Berlin University of the Arts
Hardenbergstraße/corner of Fasanenstraße, 10623 Berlin
Admission: 12 euros, reduced 8 euros
Concert of the prizewinners
20 January 2019, 7 pm
Konzerthaus Berlin
Gendarmenmarkt, 10117 Berlin
Admission: 12 euros, reduced 8 euros
Tickets for the concerts at Konzerthaus Berlin at
www.konzerthaus.de or phone (030) 2030 92101
Tickets for the final concert violoncello at
www.reservix.de or phone (030) 3185 2374