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 ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

. 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 (; ; born 5 June 1941) is an Argentine classical concert pianist. Born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argerich gave her debut concert at the age of eight before receiving further piano training in Europe. At an early age, she won sev ...

, Arturo Benedetti-Michelangeli,

Victoria de los Ángeles Victoria de los Ángeles López García (1 November 192315 January 2005) was a 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-1960s. ...

, 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 composer, virtuoso oboist, and conductor. Celebrated for his versatility and technique, Holliger is among the most prominent oboists of his generation. His repertoire includes Baroque and Clas ...

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

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

, Emmanuel Pahud,

Maurizio Pollini Maurizio Pollini (5 January 1942 – 23 March 2024) was an Italian pianist and conductor. He was known for performances of Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy, and the Second Viennese School, among others. He championed works by contemporary composers ...

Georg Solti Sir Georg Solti ( , ; born György Stern; 21 October 1912 – 5 September 1997) was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor, known for his appearances with opera companies in Munich, Frankfurt, and London, and as a long-servi ...

José van Dam Joseph, Baron Van Damme (born 25 August 1940 in Brussels), known as José van Dam, is a Belgian bass-baritone, described as having "a magnificent resonant and expressive voice" and being "an excellent actor". Life and career At the age of 17, h ...

Christian Zacharias Christian Zacharias (born 27 April 1950 in Jamshedpur, India) 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 an ...

and Tabea Zimmermann. 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, ...

*1939 Voice Maria Stader, *1942 Piano

*1947 Clarinet Henri Druart *1948 Piano Charles Reiner *1950 Clarinet Paul-Jacques Lambert *1953 Piano Jacques Klein *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 Jean Roger-Ducasse, Roger-Ducasse, Louis Hiltbrand, and Nadia Bo ...

(ex aequo) *1957 Piano

(ex aequo) *1957 Voice James Milligan *1959 Oboe

*1960 Clarinet Peter Rieckhoff *1961 Piano Désiré N'Kaoua *1961 Flute Michel Debost *1962 Organ Joachim Grubich *1971 Cello Myung-wha Chung *1972 Clarinet Thomas Friedli *1972 Viola Atar Arad *1972 Voice Konstantin Ploujnikov *1973 Double Bass Ivan Kotov *1973 Flute Toshiko Kohno *1973 Quartet Quatuor Kreuzberger *1973 Trombone Anatole Skobelev *1974 Harp Olga Ortenberg *1974 Voice Gary Kendall *1975 Guitar Dusan Bogdanovic *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 Hall of Famer Roman Ciesinski and Katherine Hansen Ciesinski. She is the sister of opera singe ...

*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 Tabea Zimmermann *1983 Bass Nico Abondolo *1983 Voice Juliana Gondek *1984 Conducting Grzegorz Nowak *1985 Organ Jonathan Biggers *1985 Voice Chihiro Bamba *1986 Cello Leonid Gorokhov *1987 Bassoon Anders Engström *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 *1988 Trombone Jonas Bylund *1990 Clarinet Fabio Di-Casola *1990 Piano Nelson Goerner *1990 Violin Zheng-Rong Wang *1991 Cello Wenn-Sinn Yang *1991 Tuba Jens Bjørn-Larsen *1992 Flute Emmanuel Pahud *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 obt ...

*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. As a clarinetist, he performs internationally and is considered one of the most renowned instrumental soloists ever. He is the first clarinetist to be awarded ...

*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 has performed in opera and concerts internationally, often portraying List of operas by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Mozart characters such as Elvira in ''Don Giovanni'' at La Scala, Aminta ...

(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 *2011 Quartet: Artemis Quartet (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 (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
{{Authority control Music competitions in Switzerland Music in Geneva Events in Geneva 1939 establishments in Switzerland Recurring events established in 1939

1st prize winners

Previous Disciplines

See also

References

External links