Highly remunerated
Conducting alumnus Simon Edelmann wins 1st prize at international conducting competition in South Korea
The ‘Weimar conductor's forge’ has another success to report: A few days ago, the former master's student of Prof. Nicolás Pasquet and Prof. Ekhart Wycik at the University of Music FRANZ LISZT Weimar won the 1st prize, endowed with the equivalent of 33,600 euros, and the audience prize at the 2nd International Conducting Competition of the Korean National Symphony Orchestra (KNSO) in Seoul (South Korea).
He prevailed against more than 220 competitors, 12 of whom were invited to the competition in Seoul after a pre-selection process.
‘Winning the 2ndnd KNSO International Conducting Competition is a great success and an honour,’ says Simon Edelmann. ’Of course, such an award is always a great opportunity and can be a springboard. But what makes me most happy is to have reached the audience with my interpretation.‘
In the final round, he conducted the KNSO in excerpts from Johannes Brahms’ 4th Symphony, Sergei Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances, and Claude Debussy's ‘La Mer’.
Most recently, Simon Edelmann passed his concert exam with distinction in the conducting class of Prof. Ulrich Windfuhr in Hamburg. He is Kapellmeister of the Vogtland Philharmonic Orchestra from the 2024/25 season. His most recent competition successes were 3rd prize at the 16th Dimitri Mitropoulos International Conducting Competition in Athens (Greece) in May 2024 and 1st prize and the special orchestra prize at the 3rd International Conducting Competition of the University of Almeria (Spain) in December 2023.
Simon Edelmann has already performed with the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, the Hamburger Symphoniker, the Staatskapelle Weimar, the Musikalische Komödie Leipzig, the Niederrheinische Sinfoniker and the Neubrandenburger Philharmonie.
Since 2022, he has been supported by the German Music Council as a scholarship holder of the Conducting Forum. Last season, this led him to work with the Saarland Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Kritisches Orchester Berlin and the Hofer Symphoniker, among others. In 2024, he was also accepted into the concert funding programme (formerly ‘Maestros of Tomorrow’) of the Conducting Forum.
[13 November 2024]