The Geneva International Music Competition () is one of the world's leading international music competitions, founded in 1939. In 1957, it was one of the founding members of the World Federation of International Music Competition (WFIMC), whose headquarters are in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

. Today, the Geneva Competition alternates between several main disciplines: piano, flute, oboe, clarinet, cello, viola, string quartet, voice and percussion. Every second year, it offers a Composition Prize. Upcoming competitions are cello & oboe (2021), piano & composition (2022), flute & string quartet (2023) and voice & composition (2024). Its prizewinners include world-famous artists such as

Martha Argerich Martha Argerich (; Eastern Catalan: �ɾʒəˈɾik born 5 June 1941) is an Argentine classical concert pianist. She is widely considered to be one of the greatest pianists of all time. Early life and education Argerich was born in Buenos A ...

, Arturo Benedetti-Michelangeli,

Victoria de los Ángeles Victoria de los Ángeles López García (1 November 192315 January 2005) was a Catalan Spanish operatic lyric soprano and recitalist whose career began after the Second World War and reached its height in the years from the mid-1950s to the mid- ...

, Alan Gilbert, Nelson Goerner,

Friedrich Gulda Friedrich Gulda (16 May 1930 – 27 January 2000) was an Austrian pianist and composer who worked in both the classical and jazz fields. Biography Early life and career Born in Vienna the son of a teacher, Gulda began learning to play the piano ...

Heinz Holliger Heinz Robert Holliger (born 21 May 1939) is a Swiss virtuoso oboist, composer and conductor. Celebrated for his versatility and technique, Holliger is among the most prominent oboists of his generation. His repertoire includes Baroque and Classic ...

Nobuko Imai , is a Japanese classical violist with an extensive career as soloist and chamber musician. Since 1988 she has played a 1690 Andrea Guarneri instrument. Biography Imai began her musical training at the age of six. She began studying at Tokyo' ...

Melos Quartet The Melos Quartet was a much-recorded, Stuttgart-based string quartet active from 1965 until 2005, when its first violin died. It also went by the name Melos Quartett Stuttgart, partly to distinguish itself from the equally prominent chamber group ...

Emmanuel Pahud Emmanuel Pahud (born 27 January 1970) is a Franco-Swiss flautist. He was born in Geneva, Switzerland. His father is of French and Swiss background and his mother is French. The Berlin-based flutistPatrick LamEmmanuel Pahud – The showcase behi ...

Maurizio Pollini Maurizio Pollini (born 5 January 1942) is an Italian pianist. He is known for performances of compositions by Beethoven, Chopin and Debussy, among others. He has also championed and performed works by contemporary composers such as Pierre Boulez ...

, Georg Solti,

José van Dam Joseph, Baron Van Damme (born 27 August 1940 in Brussels), known as José van Dam, is a Belgian bass-baritone. At the age of 17, he entered the Brussels Royal Conservatory and studied with Frederic Anspach. A year later, he graduated with diplo ...

Christian Zacharias Christian Zacharias (born 27 April 1950 in Jamshedpur) is a German pianist and conductor. Music career Zacharias studied piano with Irene Slavin and Vlado Perlemuter in Paris. He won second prize at both the Geneva Competition in 1969 and the Va ...

and

Tabea Zimmermann Tabea Zimmermann (born 8 October 1966) is a German violist. Born in Lahr, she began learning to play the viola at the age of three, and commenced piano studies at age five. At the age of 13, she studied viola with Ulrich Koch at the Conservat ...

. In addition to its official prizes, the Geneva International Music Competition offers a career development programme, which provides precious support and advice to help boost laureates’ careers. This programme includes two years of concert management, as well as CD recordings, international tours, a festival and professional workshops.

1st prize winners

*1939 Clarinet Robert Gugolz *1939 Piano

Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (; 5 January 1920 – 12 June 1995) was an Italian classical pianist. He is considered one of the greatest pianists of the twentieth century. According to ''The New York Times'', he was perhaps the most reclusive, e ...

*1939 Voice Maria Stader, *1942 Piano Georg Solti *1947 Clarinet Henri Druart *1950 Clarinet Paul-Jacques Lambert *1953 Piano

Jacques Klein Jacques Klein (10 July 1930 – 24 October 1982) was a Brazilian composer and pianist. Born to a Jewish family in Aracati, he grew up in the nearby city of Fortaleza, where he began to study piano at the Conservatorio Alberto Nepomuceno, which wa ...

*1954 Voice Pamela Bowden *1957 Clarinet Petko Radev *1957 Piano

Dominique Merlet Dominique Marie-Joseph Merlet (born 18 February 1938) is a French contemporary pianist, organist and music educator. Biography Born in Bordeaux, Dominique Merlet was a student of Roger-Ducasse, Louis Hiltbrand, and Nadia Boulanger. He won thr ...

(ex aequo) *1957 Piano

(ex aequo) *1959 Oboe

*1960 Clarinet Peter Rieckhoff *1962 Organ Joachim Grubich *1971 Cello Myung-wha Chung *1972 Clarinet

Thomas Friedli Thomas Friedli (June 30, 1946 – April 14, 2008) was an internationally renowned Swiss clarinetist. He died in 2008 in Madeira. Biography Thomas Friedli studied in Bern, Lausanne and Paris (with Jacques Lancelot) before winning 1st Prize and ' ...

*1972 Viola

Atar Arad Atar Arad (Hebrew: עתר ארד; born 8 March 1945) is an Israeli American violist, professor of music, essayist and composer. Biography Arad and his brother, architect Ron Arad, were born in Tel Aviv, Israel. Arad began his training on the vio ...

*1972 Voice Konstantin Ploujnikov *1973 Double Bass Ivan Kotov *1973 Flute Kohno Toshiko *1973 Quartet Quatuor Kreuzberger *1973 Trombone Anatole Skobelev *1974 Harp Olga Ortenberg *1974 Voice Gary Kendall *1975 Guitar

Dusan Bogdanovic Dusan may refer to: * Dušan, a Slavic given name * Dusan, a son of Ra's al Ghul * Stefan Dušan (1308–1355), emperor of Serbia See also *Doosan Group Doosan Group () is a South Korean multinational conglomerate corporation. In 2009, the corp ...

*1976 Piano Tatiana Chebanova *1976 Voice

Katherine Ciesinski Katherine Ciesinski (born October 13, 1950) is an American mezzo-soprano, stage director, and voice professor. Ciesinski was born to Delaware Sports Museum and Hall of Fame, Delaware Sports Hall of Famer Roman Ciesinski and Katherine Hansen Ciesi ...

*1977 Oboe Jean-Christophe Gayot *1977 Viola AnaBela Chaves *1977 Voice Kristine Ciesinski *1978 Voice Margareta Haverinen *1979 Voice Jean Christian *1980 Bassoon Gilbert Audin *1980 Vocal Quartet New York Vocal Ensemble *1982 Percussion Peter Sadlo *1982 Piano Evgeny Krouchevsky *1982 Viola

*1983 Bass Nico Abondolo *1983 Voice Juliana Gondek *1984 Conducting Grzegorz Nowak *1985 Organ Jonathan Biggers *1985 Voice Chihiro Bamba *1986 Cello

Leonid Gorokhov The Russian-born British/German cellist Leonid Gorokhov (born 1967 in Saint Petersburg, Leningrad) studied at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, St. Petersburg Conservatoire with Anatoli Nikitin and took part in masterclasses with Daniil Shafran. Wi ...

*1987 Trumpet

Ole Edvard Antonsen Ole Edvard Antonsen (born 25 April 1962) is a Norwegian trumpeter, musician and conductor. Antonsen was born in Vang, Hedmark, now part of Hamar. He is best known as a solo trumpeter, active in different genres of music; classical music, chamb ...

*1987 Viola Hong-Mei Xiao *1987 Voice Maria Diaconu *1988 Guitar Viktor Vidović *1988 Oboe

Alex Klein Alex Klein (born 1964, Porto Alegre) is an oboist who began his musical studies in his native Brazil at the age of nine, and made his solo orchestral debut the following year. At the age of eleven he was invited to join the Camerata Antigua, one o ...

*1988 Trombone Jonas Bylund *1990 Clarinet Fabio Di-Casola *1990 Piano

Nelson Goerner Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

*1990 Violin Zheng-Rong Wang *1991 Cello Wenn-Sinn Yang *1991 Tuba Jens Bjørn-Larsen *1992 Flute

*1993 Organ:

Alessio Corti Alessio Corti (born 1965) is a Professor of Mathematics at Imperial College London working in Algebraic Geometry. Corti studied at the University of Pisa and Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, where he gained a diploma (Laurea) in 1987. He o ...

*1993 Violin Manara Francesco *1993 Voice: Jane Irwin *1994 Conducting: Alan Gilbert *1995 Bassoon: Laurent Lefèvre *1995 Cello: Claudio Bohorquez *1995 Guitar: Georgi Vassiliev *1996 Trumpet: André Henry *1997 Clarinet:

Martin Fröst Martin Fröst (born 14 December 1970) is a Swedish clarinetist and conductor. He is principal conductor of the Swedish Chamber Orchestra. He is also a developer of multimedia projects with music, choreography and light design, in which he appea ...

*1998 Double Bass: Janusz Widzyk *1998 Oboe: Alexei Ogrintchouk *2000 Cello: Rafael Rosenfeld *2000 Voice:

Annette Dasch Annette Dasch (born 24 March 1976) is a German soprano. She performs in operas and concerts. Biography Born in West Berlin, Annette Dasch studied voice at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München with Josef Loibl. She made her debut a ...

(ex aequo) *2000 Voice: Werner Erik Nelson (ex aequo) *2001 Flute: Silvia Careddu *2001 Piano: Roland Krüger *2001 Quartet: Quatuor Terpsycordes *2002 Percussion: Aiyun Huang *2002 Piano: Sergey Koudriakov *2005 Viola: Ryszard Groblewski *2008 Cello: István Várdai *2009 Voice: Polina Pasztircsák *2010 Piano: Mami Hagiwara *2011 Composition:

Artur Akshelyan Artur is a cognate to the common male given name Arthur, meaning " bear-like," which is believed to possibly be descended from the Roman surname Artorius or the Celtic bear-goddess Artio or more probably from the Celtic word ''artos'' ("bear"). ...

*2011 Quartet:

Artemis Quartet The Artemis Quartet is a German string quartet, founded in 1989 in Lübeck, and now based in Berlin. The quartet is named for the Greek goddess of hunting and the wilderness. History The first members of the Artemis Quartet, Wilken Ranck, Is ...

(ex aequo) *2011 Quartet: Hermès Quartet (ex aequo) *2012 Piano: Lorenzo Soulès *2013 Composition: Kwang Ho Cho *2014 Piano: Ji-Yeong Mun *2015 Composition: Shoichi Yabuta *2016 Quartet: Vision String Quartet *2017 Composition: Jaehyuck Choi *2018 Clarinet: Kevin Spagnolo *2018 Piano: Théo Fouchenneret (ex aequo) *2018 Piano:

Dmitry Shishkin Dmitry Igorevich Shishkin (russian: Дмитрий Игоревич Шишкин), born 12 February 1992, is a Russian classical pianist. He is best known for winning the 2nd prize at the XVI International Tchaikovsky Competition in 2019. In 2 ...

(ex aequo) *2019 Composition: Daniel Arango-Prada (ex aequo) *2019 Composition: Hinako Takagi (ex aequo) *2019 Percussion: Hyeji Bak,
Search all prizewinners from 1939

Previous Disciplines

1995 and before, the competition also included a prize for Bassoon.

References

External links

Main websiteHistory and List of Most Notable Winners

E-Shop Prizewinners CDsWorld Federation of International Music Competitions (WFIMC) website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Geneva Music competitions in Switzerland Swiss music Events in Geneva 1939 establishments in Switzerland Recurring events established in 1939