The Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy University Competition 2025: A highlight for talented young violinists and piano trio players
Press release from 12/19/2024
The Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy University Competition 2025 will take place from 15 to 19 January. This year, Germany's oldest competition for young talent in classical music will be held in the violin and piano trio categories. Ulf Werner, orchestra director of the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, will be the artistic director of the competition in 2025. The violin jury will be chaired by Franziska Hölscher, Artistic Director of the Feldafing Music Days and the Franconian Summer, while the piano trio jury will be chaired by Anne-Kathrin Lindig, violin professor and President of the Franz Liszt University of Music Weimar. The patron of the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy University Competition is Gewandhauskapellmeister Andris Nelsons.
The Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy University Competition includes awards and prize money totalling over 30,000 euros, a CD production and subsequent concert opportunities. The competition also includes the "Prize of the Federal President", the only cash prize in the field of classical music awarded by the Federal President. The competition ends with two concerts in which the competition participants perform together with the Konzerthausorchester Berlin under the direction of Simon Gaudenz. Tickets for the final concert on 18 January 2025 in the violin category, in which the prizewinners will be chosen, and for the concert of the prizewinners on 19 January 2025 can be purchased for 8 to 14 euros.
The programme includes works from the competition repertoire as well as the concert overture from "The Fairy Tale of the Beautiful Melusine" by Mendelssohn Bartholdy on 19 January 2025. With 33 violinists and 22 piano trios from a total of 21 music academies registered, the number of applications for the upcoming competition is exceptionally high.
As every year, the programme will also feature commissioned works, the best interpretation of which will be awarded a special prize: Aziza Sadikova composed the piece "Reflections sur Versailles" for solo violin and the winner of the 2022 competition in composition, Zara Ali, composed "Dream Concentrate" for piano trio. The composition by Zara Ali was funded by the Mendelssohn-Gesellschaft e. V., Berlin. This funding is awarded to a renowned composer under the title "Fanny Hensel Prize".
The Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy University Competition is organised by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation in cooperation with the Rectors' Conference of German Music Universities and the Berlin University of the Arts.
Dates of the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy University Competition 2025
Public competitions:
Evaluation games in the violin category
1st round:
15 January 2025, from 11 a.m.
16 January 2025, from 10 am
2nd round:
17 January 2025, from 10 a.m.
Concert hall of the Berlin University of the Arts, Hardenbergstraße/corner Fasanenstraße, 10623, access for the public via the side entrance
Piano trio competition
1st round:
15 and 16 January 2025, from 10 am
2nd round:
17 January 2025, from 10 a.m.
Joseph Joachim Concert Hall of the Berlin University of the Arts, Bundesallee 1-12, 10719 Berlin
Final concert in the violin category
18 January 2025, 4 pm
Finalists in the violin category
Konzerthausorchester Berlin
Simon Gaudenz, conductor
Konzertsaal der Universität der Künste Berlin, Hardenbergstraße/Ecke Fasanenstraße, 10623 Berlin
Admission: 12,- Euro, reduced 8,- Euro
Tickets
Concert of the prizewinners
In the violin and piano trio categories
19 January 2025, 7 pm
Finalists in the violin category
Konzerthausorchester Berlin
Simon Gaudenz, conductor
The programme will be published on 18 January.
Konzerthaus Berlin, Gendarmenmarkt, 10117 Berlin
Admission: 14,- Euro, reduced 10,- Euro
Tickets
All competitions and the final will be streamed live , some of the videos will also be uploaded to the website later. Information about the competition, the concerts, the juries, all participants and the prizes can be found at www.fmb-hochschulwettbewerb.de
Press contact
Claudia Assmann
Head of Press / Communications, Berlin University of the Arts
Tel. 030 3185-2456
claudia.assmann(at)intra.udk-berlin(dot)de
www.udk-berlin.de