His third 1st prize
Conducting student Friedrich Praetorius wins the 10th Competition for Opera Conductors in Orvieto
For the third time in his young conducting career, Weimar Master's student Friedrich Praetorius won a 1st prize in a conducting competition: last weekend he succeeded in the 10th Competition for Opera Conductors in Orvieto (Italy).
With his conducting of the opera "La Bohème" by Giacomo Puccini, he prevailed in three rounds in an international field of 35 competitors. In addition to the prize money of 2,800 euros, the prize also includes follow-up conducting engagements in Italy, Romania and Bulgaria.
"This is a nice star on his resume," says Weimar conducting professor Nicolás Pasquet, who is delighted for his student. The director of the Department of Conducting and Opera Coaching, Prof. Ulrich Vogel, seconds: "I am very happy about the stringent development Friedrich Praetorius has taken in his studies and in his entire artistic development outside the university."
"For me, this experience was very special because Giacomo Puccini is my absolute favorite composer. To perform his music in such quality in his home country and to be rewarded for it makes me happy," commented Praetorius himself, who will also start his new position as 2nd Kapellmeister at the Deutsche Nationaltheater and Staatskapelle Weimar next week Monday.
Friedrich Praetorius recently won 1st prize at the International Conducting Competition at the University of Almería in Spain and also 1st prize at the Conducting Competition of the Central German Music Universities with the MDR Symphony Orchestra.
He also won 2nd prize at the "Campus Conducting" competition of the German music universities and was a semi-finalist at the "Siemens Conductors Scholarship" for the Karajan Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.
Friedrich Praetorius was born in Lutherstadt Wittenberg in 1996 and received his first musical education as a member of the Thomanerchor zu Leipzig. He began his bachelor's degree in orchestral conducting at the University of Music FRANZ LISZT in Weimar in 2015, studying with Prof. Nicolás Pasquet, Prof. Gunter Kahlert and Prof. Ekhart Wycik, and is currently completing a master's degree in Weimar.
Since 2017 Friedrich Praetorius is chief conductor of the Wendland Symphony Orchestra as well as founding member and musical director of the association "Junge Mitteldeutsche Kammeroper e.V.".
Practical collaboration has already taken him to the MDR Symphony Orchestra, the Karajan Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic, the Staatskapelle Weimar, the Jena Philharmonic, the Stuttgart Philharmonic and the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi.
He received further impulses through master classes with Christian Thielemann, Johannes Schlaefli, Ole Kristian Ruud, Arthur Fagen, Stefan Blunier, Johannes Klumpp and Georg Christoph Biller. Since 2021 he is supported by the "Forum Dirigieren" of the German Music Council.
[August 24, 2022]