The International Besançon Competition for Young Conductors, is a

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. Examples ...

for young conductors in the city of

Besançon Besançon (, , , ; archaic german: Bisanz; la, Vesontio) is the prefecture of the department of Doubs in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The city is located in Eastern France, close to the Jura Mountains and the border with Switzer ...

, France.

History

The competition was organized for the first time in 1951 by the music and film critic and composer

Émile Vuillermoz Émile-Jean-Joseph Vuillermoz (23 May 1878 – 2 March 1960) was a French critic in the areas of music, film, drama and literature. He was also a composer, but abandoned this for criticism. Early life Émile Vuillermoz was born in Lyon in 1878. He ...

, as part of the Besançon International Music Festival, founded three years before. Many conductors who won the competition have established successful international careers, including Seiji Ozawa,

Ali Rahbari Ali (Alexander) Rahbari ( fa, علی رهبری; also Romanized as "Alī Rahbarī", ; born 1948) is an Iranian composer and conductor, who has worked with more than 120 European orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic and the Mariinsky Ope ...

Jesús López-Cobos Jesus ( AD 30 or 33) was a Jewish preacher and religious leader who most Christians believe to be the incarnation of God and Muslims believe was a prophet. Jesus may also refer to: People Religious figures * Elymas Bar-Jesus, a Jew in the ''Ac ...

and

Sylvain Cambreling Sylvain Cambreling (born 2 July 1948 in Amiens, France) is a French conductor. Biography Trained as a trombone player, Cambreling studied at the Paris Conservatoire. He joined l' Orchestre Symphonique de Lyon (OSL) as a trombonist in 1971. In 19 ...

. The first prize consists of a cash prize and engagements with important orchestras such as the

BBC Symphony Orchestra The BBC Symphony Orchestra (BBC SO) is a British orchestra based in London. Founded in 1930, it was the first permanent salaried orchestra in London, and is the only one of the city's five major symphony orchestras not to be self-governing. T ...

, Ensemble orchestral contemporain,

Dresden Philharmonic The Dresdner Philharmonie (Dresden Philharmonic) is a German symphony orchestra based in Dresden. Its principal concert venue is the '' Kulturpalast''. The orchestra also performs at the Kreuzkirche, the Hochschule für Musik Dresden, and ...

and Opera North Sinfonia.

Winners

The winners of the competition are: * 1951 Reinhard Peters * 1952

Jean Périsson Jean Périsson (6 July 1924 in Arcachon – 18 February 2019) was a French Conducting, conductor. Career A pupil of Jean Fournet, he won the first prize at the Besançon conducting competition in 1952. He was assistant to Igor Markevitch at the Sa ...

* 1953 Peter Traunfellner * 1954 Peter Chaille * 1955 Jerzy Katlewicz * 1956

Zdeněk Košler Zdeněk Košler (March 25, 1928 – July 2, 1995) was a Czechoslovak conductor, who played an important role in Czechoslovak musical life of the second half of 20th century, notably during the 1960s and 1980s.Sleeve note of the Supraphon CD (SU 007 ...

, first mention

Sergiu Comissiona Sergiu Comissiona (June 16, 1928 – March 5, 2005) was a Romanian-Israeli-American conductor and violinist. Biography Early life Born in Bucharest, Romania in a Jewish family, he began violin studies at the age of five, was hired as a violin ...

* 1957

Jean Lapierre Jean-Charles Lapierre (May 7, 1956 – March 29, 2016) was a Canadian politician and television and radio broadcaster. After retiring from the government in 2007, he served as a political analyst in a variety of venues. He was Paul Martin's Qu ...

* 1958 Martin Turnovsky * 1959 Seiji Ozawa * 1960 Poul Jorgensen * 1961

Pierre Hetu Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...

* 1962

Vladimir Kojoukharov Vladimir may refer to: Names * Vladimir (name) for the Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Macedonian, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak and Slovenian spellings of a Slavic name * Uladzimir for the Belarusian version of the name * Volodymyr for the Ukr ...

* 1963

Aloïs Springer Alois (Latinized ''Aloysius'') is an Old Occitan form of the name Louis. Modern variants include ''Aloïs'' ( French), ''Aloys'' ( German), ''Alois'' (Czech), '' Alojz'' ( Slovak, Slovenian), '' Alojzy'' ( Polish), '' Aloísio'' (Portuguese, Spa ...

* 1964

Emil Simon Emil Simon (24 September 1936 – 25 February 2014) was a Romanian conductor and composer. Life and career Born in 1936 in Chișinău, Kingdom of Romania, Romania, Emil Simon began studying the piano at the early age of 6. After acquiring more ...

* 1965

Zdeněk Mácal Zdeněk Mácal (; born 8 January 1936) is a Czech conductor. Mácal was born in Brno, Czechoslovakia, and began violin lessons with his father at the age of four. He later attended the Brno Conservatory and the Janáček Academy of Music an ...

* 1966 ''no first prize awarded'' * 1967

Yuval Zaliouk Yuval Zaliouk (יובל צליוק, born 1939 in Haifa) is an Israeli- American conductor. Born into a musical family, he was educated at the Haifa Academy of Music Luis Antonio García Navarro Luis Antonio García Navarro (30 April 1941 in Chiva, Valencian Community, Spain – 10 October 2001 in Madrid, Spain), was a Spanish conductor. Biography García Navarro was born in Chiva (Spain), and studied in Valencia and the Madrid Royal ...

* 1968

and

Philippe Bender Philippe Bender (born 25 February 1942 in Besançon, France) is a French flautist and conductor. In 1976, he was appointed artistic director and permanent chef of the He is also titular conductor and artistic director of the Orchestre sympho ...

* 1969 ''no first prize awarded'' * 1970

Stéphane Cardon Stéphane is a male French given name an equivalent of Stephen/Steven. Notable people with this given name include: * Stéphane Adam (born 1969), French footballer * Stéphane Agbre Dasse (born 1989), Burkinabé football player * Stéphane Allagno ...

* 1971 ''no first prize awarded'' * 1972

Jacques Mercier (conductor) Jacques Mercier (born 17 October 1943 in Mouscron) is a Belgian writer and television and radio presenter. The third eldest son of René and Denise Mercier, Jacques Mercier was educated at St. Joseph's College. Mercier joined RTBF in September ...

* 1973 ''no first prize awarded'' * 1974 Alex Veelo, 2nd prize

* 1975

Marc Soustrot Marc Soustrot (born 15 April 1949) is a French classical conductor. He was the music director of the Orchestre national des Pays de la Loire from 1976 to 1994, and from 1995 to 2003 GMD of the Beethoven Orchester Bonn which plays in both opera ...

* 1976 Patrick Juzeau * 1977 Tomas Koutnik and

* 1978

Yoel Levi Yoel Levi (Hebrew: יואל לוי) (born 16 August 1950) is an Israeli musician and conductor. Early life Born in Romania, Levi grew up in Israel. He studied at the Tel Aviv Academy of Music, receiving a Master of Arts degree with distinction. ...

* 1979 Doron Salomon * 1980 Jonathan Seers * 1981

Philippe Cambreling Philippe is a masculine sometimes feminin given name, cognate to Philip. It may refer to: * Philippe of Belgium (born 1960), King of the Belgians (2013–present) * Philippe (footballer) (born 2000), Brazilian footballer * Prince Philippe, Count ...

* 1982 Yôko Matsuo and

Osmo Vänskä Osmo Antero Vänskä (born 28 February 1953) is a Finnish conductor, clarinetist, and composer. Biography Vänskä started his musical career as an orchestral clarinetist with the Turku Philharmonic (1971–76). He then became the principal cla ...

* 1983 Michael Zilm, mention for Carlo Rizzi * 1984 Wolfgang Doerner * 1985 Wing-Sie Yip, 2nd prize

Rodolfo Saglimbeni Rodolfo Saglimbeni (born 8 December 1962, in Barquisimeto, Venezuela) is a conductor. He studied music in Venezuela and then at the Royal Academy of Music of London with Colin Metters, John Carewe and George Hurst (conductor), George Hurst, obtai ...

. * 1986 Gilles Auger * 1987

Nicolás Pasquet Nicolás Pasquet (born 1958) is a conductor from Uruguay and professor of conducting. Biography Born in 1958 in Montevideo, Uruguay, Pasquet studied violin and conducting at the National Music College. He later studied in Germany, violin at the ...

* 1988

Lü Shao-chia Lü Shao-chia (; born 1960) is a Taiwanese conductor. He has been music director of the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan since 2010. Biography Born in Hsinchu, Taiwan, Lü studied piano at an early age. Initiated by Taiwanese conductor ...

* 1989 Christopher Gayford and

Yutaka Sado is a Japanese conductor. While still in school, Sado obtained a position in the Kansai Nikikai, a Japanese school of opera, where he had the opportunity to work with the New Japan Philharmonic and the Kyoto Symphony Orchestra, learning operati ...

* 1990 Ryusuke Numajiri * 1991

George Pehlivanian George Pehlivanian (born 20 April 1964) is a French-American conductor. Biography A French-American conductor, born in Beirut, Lebanon, into a musical family of Armenian origin. His mother, Arpine Pehlivanian, is a Lebanese Armenian classica ...

* 1992 Tommaso Placidi * 1993 Silvia Massarelli and Daisuke Soga * 1995 Tetsuro Ban * 1994

* 1997

Marco Parisotto Marco may refer to: People * Marco (given name), people with the given name Marco * Marco (actor) (born 1977), South Korean model and actor * Georg Marco (1863–1923), Romanian chess player of German origin * Tomás Marco (born 1942), Spanish ...

* 1999 Alvaro Albiach-Fernandez * 2001

Tatsuya Shimono is a common masculine Japanese given name. Possible writings Tatsuya can be written using different kanji characters and can mean: *達也, "master/accomplished, to be" *達矢, "master/accomplished, arrow" *竜也, "dragon, to be" *竜哉, "d ...

* 2003 ''no first prize awarded'' * 2005

Lionel Bringuier Lionel Bringuier (born 24 September 1986), Nice, is a French conductor, cellist and pianist. Bringuier is the fourth child in a family of musicians, including his brother Nicolas Bringuier, a pianist. At age 5, Bringuier began musical studies at ...

* 2007

Darrell Ang Darrell is a given name derived from an English surname, which was derived from Norman-French , originally denoting one who came from Airelle in France. There are no longer any towns in France called Airelle, but is the French word for huckleberr ...

* 2009 Kazuki Yamada * 2011 Yuki Kakiuchi * 2013 Yao-Yu Wu * 2015

Jonathon Heyward Jonathon Heyward is an American conductor. From 2016, he was assistant conductor of The Hallé, and music director of The Hallé Youth Orchestra. He has been chief conductor of the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie from 2021. On July 21, 2022, the ...

* 2017 Ben Glassberg * 2019 Nodoka Okisawa

References

External links

International Besançon Competition for Young Conductors — Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:International Besancon Competition for Young Conductors Conducting competitions Besançon International Music Festival