17th Bundeswettbewerb Schulpraktisches Klavierspiel CARL BECHSTEIN 2026
Award winners
Grand Prize
Not awarded
Winner of Round 1 (Song Recital)
Damian Bach, Mainz University of Music
Winner of Round 2 (Sight-Reading and Score Performance)
Luis Jäckel, Freiburg University of Music
Winner of Round 3 (Improvisation)
Charlotte Stärk, Cologne University of Music and Dance
Special Prize from the CARL BECHSTEIN Foundation
for a particularly successful late-Romantic improvisation based on a poem
David Kiefer, Freiburg University of Music
Special Prize from the Federal Association of Music Education (BMU)
Prize for the particularly original performance of a musical song
Jakob Maas, University of Music Franz Liszt Weimar
Special Prize from the University of Music FRANZ LISZT Weimar
for a particularly stylistically authentic rendition of a song
Sebastian Munsch, HfMDK Frankfurt am Main
Special Prize
for a very authentic original composition
Simon Flock, Cologne University of Music and Dance
Audience Special Prize
Michael Domaschka, HfM Würzburg
7. bis 10. Mai 2026
Improvisation is a challenge for some piano students: not everyone moves effortlessly on the keys outside of the notation. But especially for future music teachers, the skills of free improvisation as well as sight-reading and score-playing are essential for a lively teaching of the subject matter.
The importance of these skills is underlined every two years by the Bundeswettbewerb Schulpraktisches Klavierspiel, which will next be held for the 17th time at the University of Music FRANZ LISZT Weimar from 7 to 10 May 2026.
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