10th International JOSEPH JOACHIM Competition | Chamber Music

Chamber music is the queen of the fine arts. The intimate interplay within a small ensemble trains the ear, promotes empathy, trains synchronicity and offers truly sublime emotional experiences for the performers. The individual as a social being reaches full artistic development here and learns in the finest nuances what can later be transferred in the most positive way to playing together in, for example, an orchestra.

Every three years, the International JOSEPH JOACHIM Chamber Music Competition has been attracting the most talented young ensembles to the University of Music FRANZ LISZT Weimar for around 25 years. The challenge is to perform a stylistically diverse and extensive repertoire spanning several centuries in front of the trained ears of a top-class jury. The requirements include works from the early and late classical period as well as the romantic period. Additionally, attention will be paid to modern works composed after 1900 as well as after 1970.

Prizes and special prizes worth a total of more than 20,000 euros will be awarded to those who succeed in all three rounds. Success in Weimar in the competition categories of string trio, string quartet, piano trio or piano quartet enhances one' s reputation and can act as a catalyst for a worldwide stage career, as some prize-winning ensembles have already proven.

The choice of violinist, conductor and composer Joseph Joachim (1831-1907) as the competition's namesake is obvious, as he belonged to Franz Liszt's inner circle during his time as concertmaster of the Weimar court orchestra. As one of the most important chamber musicians of the late 19th century, Joachim played in the Liszt-Joachim-Coßmann piano trio, which gained a legendary reputation during its short existence.