The German Conducting Award (GCA) (formerly Deutscher Dirigentenpreis) is an international competition for concert and opera conducting and serves to promote young conductors of all nations who are younger than 33 years of age.

History of the prize

The German Conducting Award is organised by the

Deutscher Musikrat The (DMR, ''German Music Council''; ) is an umbrella organization for music associations and the 16 music councils of the German federal states.musikrat.deÜberblick über Organisationsstruktur des DMR(retrieved on 10 May 2019) It represents over ...

(Bonn) in partnership with the

Kölner Philharmonie The Kölner Philharmonie is a symphonic concert hall located in Cologne, Germany. It is part of the building ensemble of the Museum Ludwig and was opened in 1986. The Kölner Philharmonie is located close to the Cologne Cathedral and the Köln ...

, the

Cologne Opera The Cologne Opera (German language, German: Oper der Stadt Köln or Oper Köln) refers to both the main opera house in Cologne, Germany and its resident opera company. History of the company From the mid 18th century, opera was performed in the ...

, the

Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne The Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne () is a German symphony orchestra based in Cologne. On some recordings, the orchestra goes under the name "Gürzenich-Orchester Kölner Philharmoniker". Its name comes from its past principal concert venue, the G ...

and the

WDR Symphony Orchestra The WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne (German: WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln) is a German radio orchestra based in Cologne, where the orchestra performs at two main concert halls: the WDR Funkhaus Wallrafplatz and the Kölner Philharmonie. History ...

. As a cultural partner, the competition is accompanied by the West German Radio's

WDR 3 WDR 3 is a German public radio station owned and operated by the Westdeutscher Rundfunk (; "West German Broadcasting Cologne"), shortened to WDR (), is a German public broadcasting, public-broadcasting institution based in the States of Germa ...

culture wave. The prize was first awarded in 1995 as the Prize of th
Forum Dirigieren
to outstanding scholarship holders of the support programme. It was awarded internationally for the first time in 2017 and is held every two years. A unique selling point is the inclusion of the genres of opera and concert in the repertoire. The competition is open to the public from the second round onwards.

Prize money

The prize is endowed with a total of 33,000 euros, making it one of the highest endowed conducting competitions in Europe. * 1st prize: 15,000 euros (donated by the City of Cologne et al.) * 2nd prize: 10,000 euros * 3rd prize: 5,000 euros (donated by the Ursula Lübbe Foundation et al.) * Kurt Masur Audience Award: 3,000 euros (donated by the International Kurt Masur Institute) The winners receive concert engagements and assistances at opera houses and German partner orchestras.

Jury

The members of the jury change and for the first award in 2017 consisted of: *

Peter Gülke Peter Ludwig Gülke (born 29 April 1934) is a German conductor and musicologist. Biography Born in Weimar, Gülke studied cello and musicology at the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt, Weimar. He completed his doctorate in philosophy in Leipzig ...

, honorary chairman, conductor and musicologist *

Lothar Zagrosek Lothar Zagrosek (born 13 November 1942 in Otting, Germany) is a German conductor. As a youth, he sang in the Regensburg Cathedral choir, including performances as the First Boy in ''The Magic Flute'' at the 1954 Salzburg Festival. From 1962 to ...

, chairman and conductor *

Lioba Braun Lioba Braun (born 4 September 1957) is a German opera singer and academic teacher at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln and the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München. Based at the Nationaltheater Mannheim, she has appeared mostly in ...

, Mezzo-soprano * Siegwald Bütow, Manager and Producer of the WDR Symphony Orchestra * Louwrens Langevoort, Director of the Cologne Philharmonic Orchestra * Birgit Meyer, Director of the Cologne Opera *

Stephan Mösch Stephan may refer to: * Stephan, South Dakota, United States * Stephan (given name), a masculine given name * Stephan (surname), a Breton-language surname See also * Sankt-Stephan * Stefan (disambiguation) * Stephan-Oterma * Stephani * Stephe ...

, music and theatre scholar, publicist

Prize winners

Winners of the German Conducting Award (from 2017)

* 2023: ** Dayner Tafur-Díaz (Peru) (1st prize winner) ** Nathanaël Iselin (France) (2nd prize winner) ** Claudio Novati (Italy) (3rd prize winner) ** Dayner Tafur-Díaz (Peru) (Audience Award) * 2021: ** Martijn Dendievel (Belgium) (1st prize winner) ** Aivis Greters (Latvia) (2nd prize winner) ** Hangyul Chung (South Korea) (3rd prize winner) ** Hangyul Chung (South Korea) (Audience Award) * 2019: ** Julio García VicoGerman Conducting Prize of 18 October 2019: Julio García Vico wins the German Conducting Prize 2019
, called on 28 October 2019 (1st prize winner) ** Gábor Hontvári (2nd prize winner) ** Chloé van Soeterstède (3rd prize winner) * 2017: ** Hossein Pishkar (1st prize winner) ** Dominic Beikirch (2nd prize winner) ** Anna Rakitina (3rd prize winner) ** Vladimir Yaskorski (special prize winner)

Prizewinners of the Conductors' Forum (1995–2015)

* 2015: Leo McFall * 2013:

Kristiina Poska Kristiina Poska (born 12 July 1978, Türi, Estonia) is an Estonian conductor. Biography At age eight, Poska began piano lessons. She graduated from Türi Music School in piano studies in 1994, and then studied choral conducting at the Georg Ots ...

* 2011: Francesco Angelico * 2009: Simon Gaudenz * 2006:

Mihkel Kütson Mihkel Kütson (born 11 September 1971) is an Estonian conductor. He is the principal conductor for Schleswig-Holstein Landestheater and Vanemuine Theatre Vanemuine () is a theatre in Tartu, Estonia. It is the first Estonian language, Estoni ...

* 2004:

Markus Poschner Markus Poschner (born 1 February 1971) is a German conductor and pianist. Biography Born in Munich, Poschner studied at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich with Hermann Michael. His mentors and supporters included Sir Roger Norri ...

* 2002: Matthias Foremny * 2001: Christian Voß * 1999:

Gabriel Feltz In the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam), Gabriel ( ) is an archangel with the power to announce God's will to mankind, as the messenger of God. He is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and the Quran. Many Chris ...

* 1995: Marc Piollet

References

External links

* {{portal bar, Classical music, Germany Conducting competitions