The Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition is one of the most important

music competition A music competition is a public event designed to identify and award outstanding musical ensembles, soloists, composers, conductors and musicologists. Pop music competitions are music competitions which are held to find pop starlets. Exampl ...

s of its kind worldwide and is held in

Bamberg Bamberg (, , ; East Franconian: ''Bambärch'') is a town in Upper Franconia, Germany, on the river Regnitz close to its confluence with the river Main. The town dates back to the 9th century, when its name was derived from the nearby ' castle. C ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. Conductors no older than 35 years may enter.

History

The competition was founded by the

Bamberg Symphony Orchestra The Bamberg Symphony (German: Bamberger Symphoniker – Bayerische Staatsphilharmonie) is a German orchestra based in Bamberg. It is one of the most prestigious orchestras in Germany. The orchestra was formed in 1946 mainly from German musicians ...

, with the idea of helping young conductors at the start of their conducting careers. The first prize includes a cash prize and engagements with several orchestras. It started in 2004 with

Gustavo Dudamel Gustavo Adolfo Dudamel Ramírez (born 26 January 1981) is a Venezuelan conductor and violinist who is the music director of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Paris Opera. Early life Dudamel was bor ...

’s decisive win and since then has taken place every three years.

Winners

2004

Jury

* Marina Mahler (Patronesse of the Competition and Honorary Member of the Jury) *

Jonathan Nott Jonathan Nott (born 25 December 1962, in Solihull, England) is an English conductor. Biography The son of a priest at Worcester Cathedral, Nott was a music student and choral scholar at St John's College, Cambridge, and also studied singing a ...

(Principal Conductor of the Bamberg Symphony and President of the Jury) *

Leon Botstein Leon Botstein (born December 14, 1946 in Zürich, Switzerland) is a Swiss-American conducting, conductor, educator, and scholar serving as the President of Bard College. Biography 1946–1975: Early life, education, and career Botstein was ...

(Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the American Symphony Orchestra) *

Lawrence Foster Lawrence Foster (born October 23, 1941) is an American conductor of Romanian ancestry. He is currently the artistic director and chief conductor of the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra and the music director of the Marseille Opera and th ...

(Artistic Director of Orchestra of the Gulbenkian Foundation Lisbon) *

Esa-Pekka Salonen Esa-Pekka Salonen (; born 30 June 1958) is a Finnish orchestral conductor and composer. He is principal conductor and artistic advisor of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, conductor laureate of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and music di ...

(Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of Los Angeles Philharmonic and Composer) *

Magnus Lindberg Magnus Gustaf Adolf Lindberg (born 27 June 1958) is a Finnish composer and pianist. He was the New York Philharmonic's composer-in-residence from 2009 to 2012 and has been the London Philharmonic Orchestra's composer-in-residence since the begin ...

(Composer) * Paul Müller (Managing Director and CEO of the Bamberg Symphony) *

Ernest Fleischmann Ernest Martin Fleischmann (December 7, 1924 – June 13, 2010) was a German-born American impresario who served for 30 years as executive director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, which he upgraded to become a top-ranked orchestra. A talented mu ...

(Consultant and former Managing Director of the San Francisco Symphony) * Rolf Beck (Head of NDR Orchestras and Choir Hamburg and Director of the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival) * Serge Dorny (General Director of L’Opéra National de Lyon) * Peter Pastreich (Consultant) * Markus Mayers (Member of the Board of the Bamberg Symphony)

2007

The Second Bamberg Symphony Orchestra Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition took place on 23-28 April 2007 at Sinfonie an der Regnitz, Joseph-Keilberth-Saal, Bamberg.

Jury

* Marina Mahler (Honorary member) *

(Jury President; Principal Conductor, Bamberg Symphony Orchestra) *

Herbert Blomstedt Herbert Thorson Blomstedt (; born 11 July 1927) is a Swedish conductor. Herbert Blomstedt was born in Massachusetts. Two years after his birth, his Swedish parents moved the family back to their country of origin. He studied at the Stockholm Ro ...

(Honorary Conductor for Life, Bamberg Symphony Orchestra) *

Hans Graf Hans Graf (born 15 February 1949 in Marchtrenk) is an Austrian conductor. As a child, Graf learned the violin and the piano. He studied at the Musikhochschule in Graz, Austria, and graduated with diplomas in piano and conducting. He also partic ...

(Music Director, Houston Symphony Orchestra) *

Mark-Anthony Turnage Mark-Anthony Turnage CBE (born 10 June 1960) is a British composer of classical music. Biography Turnage was born in Corringham, Essex. He began composing at age nine and at fourteen began studying at the junior section of the Royal College of ...

(Composer) * Paul Müller (Intendant, Bamberg Symphony Orchestra) * Rolf Beck (Intendant, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival) * Serge Dorny (Director-General, L'Opéra National de Lyon) * Ernest Fleischmann (Consultant) * Peter Pastreich (Consultant) * Christian Dibbern (Member of the Orchestra Board of the Bamberg Symphony)

2010

The 3rd competition took place in

, from February 26 to March 7, 2010.

Competitors

* Elizabeth Askren * Cornelius Heine * Seokwon Hong * Yordan Kamdzhalov *

Francesco Lanzillotta Francesco Lanzillotta (born 1977) is an Italian conductor and composer. As a conductor, he is focused on Italian opera, including contemporary works. He has conducted internationally, such as Verdi's ''La traviata'' in Varna, Bulgaria, ''Nabucco' ...

* Alexander Prior * Ainars Rubikis *

Scott Seaton Scott may refer to: Places Canada * Scott, Quebec, municipality in the Nouvelle-Beauce regional municipality in Quebec * Scott, Saskatchewan, a town in the Rural Municipality of Tramping Lake No. 380 * Rural Municipality of Scott No. 98, Saskat ...

* Aziz Shokakimov * Lam Tran * Kosuke Tsunoda * Xenia Zharko

Jury

* Marina Fistoulari-Mahler ''(honorary juror)'' *

''(president)'' *

John Carewe John Carewe (born 24 January 1933) is a British conductor. Very early in his student career at the Guildhall School of Music, Carewe gave up his original intention of being a composer and turned to conducting. His teachers, nevertheless, were al ...

* Wolfgang Fink *

Jonathan Mills Jonathan Mills (born 12 February 1984) is a Wales, Welsh rugby union player. A lock forward, he previously played for Llandovery RFC Bath Rugby, Bath, Llanelli RFC and the Scarlets before joining London Welsh where he captained the side winning ...

* Jan Nast *

Matthias Pintscher Matthias Pintscher (born 29 January 1971) is a German composer and conductor. As a youth, he studied the violin and conducting. Life and career Pintscher was born in Marl, North Rhine-Westphalia. He began his music studies with Giselher Klebe in ...

* ''A member of the

Repertoire

Joseph Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...

- Symphony No. 104 *

Gustav Mahler Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism ...

- Symphony No. 4 *

- A selection from his lieder cycles *

- ''Towards Osiris'' *

Anton Webern Anton Friedrich Wilhelm von Webern (3 December 188315 September 1945), better known as Anton Webern (), was an Austrian composer and conductor whose music was among the most radical of its milieu in its sheer concision, even aphorism, and stea ...

- Five pieces for orchestra, op.10 *

Jörg Widmann Jörg Widmann (born 19 June 1973) is a German composer, conductor and clarinetist. In 2018, Widmann was the third most performed contemporary composer in the world. Formerly a clarinet and composition professor at the University of Music Freibu ...

- '' Con brio''

2013

From 7 to 14 June 2013 the Bamberg Symphony held The Mahler Competition for the fourth time. 407 young conductors applied to compete.

Candidates

* Tung-Chieh Chuang, Taiwan * David Danzmayr, Austria * Botinis Dimitris, Greece / Russia * Gad Kadosh, Israel / France * Yoshinao Kihara, Japan * Manuel López-Gómez, Venezuela * June-Sung Park, South Korea *

Lahav Shani Lahav Shani ( he, להב שני; born 7 January 1989, Tel Aviv) is an Israeli conductor and pianist. Biography Shani is the son of Michael Shani, a choral conductor. He began piano lessons at age 6 with Hannah Shalgi. He continued his piano st ...

, Israel * Dalia Stasevska, Finland * Yuko Tanaka, Japan * Zoi Tsokanou, Greece * Joseph Young, US

Jury

* Marina Mahler *

Markus Stenz Markus Stenz (born 28 February 1965, Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, Rhineland-Palatinate) is a German conductor. He studied at the Hochschule für Musik Köln with Volker Wangenhein and at Tanglewood with Leonard Bernstein and Seiji Ozawa. Stenz has ...

Rolf Wallin Rolf Wallin (born 7 September 1957) is a Norwegian composer, trumpeter and avant-garde performance artist. Biography Wallin was born in Oslo, where he studied with Finn Mortensen and Olav Anton Thommessen. He later studied at the University of ...

* Louwrens Langevoort * Jonathan Mills * Albert Schmitt * Wolfgang Fink * Christian Dibbern

Repertoire

* Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 1 D major, 1st movement and Symphony No. 6 A minor, 2nd and 3rd movement; Song of a Wayfarer; "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen" from the Rückert song cycle * Joseph Haydn: Symphony No. 92 G major Hob. I:92 * Alban Berg: Lyrische Suite. Three Pieces for String Orchestra, 1928 *

György Ligeti György Sándor Ligeti (; ; 28 May 1923 – 12 June 2006) was a Hungarian-Austrian composer of contemporary classical music. He has been described as "one of the most important avant-garde composers in the latter half of the twentieth century" ...

: Melodies for Orchestra, 1971 *

: Act for Orchestra, 2003

2016

From 6 to 13 May 2016 the Bamberg Symphony held The Mahler Competition for the fifth time. Out of 381 applicants from 64 countries, 14 candidates were invited to Bamberg, 11 male and 3 female. The members of the Jury were

, President of the Jury and former Principal Conductor of the Bamberg Symphony, Marina Mahler, the composer’s granddaughter and Honorary Member, Marcus Rudolf Axt, Chief Executive of the Bamberg Symphony, the conductors

Jiří Bělohlávek Jiří Bělohlávek, (; 24 February 1946 – 31 May 2017) was a Czech conductor. He was a leading interpreter of Czech classical music, and became chief conductor of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra in 1990, a role he would serve on two occasio ...

, John Carewe and Sir

Neville Marriner Sir Neville Marriner, (15 April 1924 – 2 October 2016) was an English violinist and "one of the world's greatest conductors". Gramophone lists Marriner as one of the 50 greatest conductors and another compilation ranks Marriner #14 of th ...

, the conductor and singer

Barbara Hannigan Barbara Hannigan (born 8 May 1971) is a Canadian soprano and Conducting, conductor, known for her performances of Contemporary classical music, contemporary opera. Education Hannigan's initial musical education came from music teachers in her ...

, the conductor and composer

, the President and CEO of the Los Angeles Philharmonic

Deborah Borda Deborah Borda is the president and chief executive officer of the New York Philharmonic. Education Borda was born on July 15, 1949, in New York. At the age of 12 her family moved to Boston. She graduated from Bennington College with a BA in mu ...

, the artist consultant Martin Campbell-White, the Provost and Dean of The Juilliard School Ara Guzelimian and Boris-Alexander Jusa, a member of the Bamberg Symphony. The Competition’s repertoire consisted of works by

Henri Dutilleux Henri Paul Julien Dutilleux (; 22 January 1916 – 22 May 2013) was a French composer active mainly in the second half of the 20th century. His small body of published work, which garnered international acclaim, followed in the tradition of ...

, Jörg Widmann and Georg Friedrich Haas.

Prizes

* 1st Prize, € 20,000 * 2nd Prize, € 10,000 * 3rd Prize, € 5,000

2020

From 29 June to 5 July 2020 the Bamberg Symphony held The Mahler Competition for the sixth time. From 336 applicants 12 candidates where chosen to participate in the competition in Bamberg.

Candidates

* Yeo Ryeong Ahn * Finnegan Downie Dear * Killian Farrell * Orr Guy * Andreas Hansson * Thomas Jung * Piero Lombardi Iglesias * Wilson Ng * Harry Ogg * Mikhail Shekhtman * Christian Vasquez * Katharina Wincor

Jury

* Marina Mahler (Patronesse of the Competition and Honorary Member of the Jury) *

Jakub Hrůša Jakub Hrůša (born 23 July 1981 in Brno), is a Czech conductor. Education Hrůša is the son of the architect Petr Hrůša. Hrůša studied piano and trombone, and developed an interest in conducting, during his years at Gymnázium třída K ...

(Principal Conductor of the Bamberg Symphony and President of the Jury) * Pamela Rosenberg (former Managing Director and CEO of the Berlin Philharmonic) *

(Conductor) * Martin Campbell-White (Consultant and Founder of Askonas Holt and President of the Mahler Foundation Santa Cruz USA) * Ara Guzelimian (Provost and Dean, The Juilliard School, and Artistic Director of the Ojai Music Festival) *

(Conductor and Singer) *

(Chief Conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and Music Director Designate of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra) *

Juanjo Mena Juanjo Mena (also known as Juan José Mena; born 21 September 1965, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Basque Country, Spain) is a Spanish conductor. Biography Mena began his music studies at the Vitoria-Gasteiz Conservatory. He later attended the Madrid Ro ...

(Principal Conductor of the Cincinnati May Festival and Associate Conductor of the Spanish National Orchestra) * Mark Stringer (Professor for Orchestra Conducting at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna) * Miroslav Srnka (Composer) * Marcus Axt (Managing Director and CEO of the Bamberg Symphony) * Martin Timphus (Member of the Orchestral Board of Bamberg Symphony)

Repertoire

* Gustav Mahler: Symphony Nr. 4 G Major for Soprano and Orchestra * Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Symphony Nr. 26 E Major KV 184 *

: Variations for Orchestra op. 30 *

Helmut Lachenmann Helmut Friedrich Lachenmann (born 27 November 1935) is a German composer of contemporary classical music. His work has been associated with "instrumental musique concrète". Life and works Lachenmann was born in Stuttgart and after the end of ...

: "Tableau" * Miroslav Srnka: move 04 "Memory Full" (world premiere)

Prizes

* 1st Prize € 30,000 * 2nd Prize € 20,000 * 3rd Prize € 10,000

References

External links

* {{Gustav Mahler Music competitions in Germany