Twelve competitions, twelve wins
Weimar students successful in conducting competition with MDR Symphony Orchestra
For the twelfth time, the MDR Symphony Orchestra has organised a conducting competition together with the three Central German music universites in Leipzig, Dresden and Weimar. The students of the "Weimar Conducting Forge" were once again successful at the competition in Leipzig in mid-January, taking first place for the twelfth time in a row.
The (shared) 1st prize was won by Seonggeun Kim, a master's student in the conducting class of Prof Nicolás Pasquet and Prof Ekhart Wycik at the University of Music FRANZ LISZT Weimar. Another 1st prize went to Bennet Eicke from the University of Music and Theatre in Leipzig.
The 2nd prize went to Josef Jugashvili, also a conducting student from Leipzig. The 3rd prize again went to Weimar to Swann van Rechem, a master's student in the conducting class of Prof Pasquet and Prof Wycik. The prizewinners will conduct a concert with the MDR Symphony Orchestra in May 2024. "Congratulations to them! We are happy and proud of our students," says Prof Nicolás Pasquet.
The vote was cast by a jury of conducting professors from the participating music universities and members of the MDR Symphony Orchestra - on the basis of two assessment days in the rehearsal hall at Leipzig's Augustusplatz.
Born in Seoul (South Korea), Seonggeun Kim moved to South Africa as a child and received his first flute lessons at the age of twelve. In April 2018, he began a bachelor's degree in orchestral conducting at the University of Music FRANZ LISZT Weimar, which he completed with honours in spring 2022. He is currently studying for a Master's degree at the same university in the class of Prof Nicolás Pasquet and Prof Ekhart Wycik.
He has already worked with numerous orchestras such as the Jena Philharmonic Orchestra, the Staatskapelle Weimar, the Thuringia Philharmonic Orchestra Gotha-Eisenach, the Anhalt Philharmonic Orchestra Dessau and the Philharmonic Orchestra Hradec Králové. From 2019 to 2023, Seonggeun Kim was Artistic Director of the Collegium Musicum Weimar, an ensemble of the Weimar University of Music. In the summer of 2023, he made a guest appearance with the Erfurt Academic Orchestra. He has been a scholarship holder of the German Music Council's Conducting Forum since 2023.
Born in Lille, French conductor Swann van Rechem has already worked with orchestras such as the Jena Philharmonic, the MDR Symphony Orchestra, the Thüringen Philharmonie Gotha-Eisenach, the Nord Nederland Orkest and the Hradec Králové Philharmonic. He also founded the ensemble "Les Parnassiens", which specialises in the repertoire of the early 20th century for chamber orchestra. In 2023, he won first prize at the International Conducting Competition in Besancon (France).
As a trained percussionist, he initially studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris and played in the Ensemble Intercontemporain, Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine, Orchestre de l'opéra de Limoges and in the ensemble "Le Balcon" - as well as a soloist and chamber musician. Swann van Rechem then went on to study orchestral conducting, initially in Amsterdam. He is currently studying for a Master's degree with Prof Nicolás Pasquet and Prof Ekhart Wycik at the University of Music FRANZ LISZT Weimar.
[16 January 2024]