Fourteenth first prize
Weimar student wins conducting competition with the MDR Symphony Orchestra
For the fourteenth time, the MDR Symphony Orchestra, together with the three Central German Music universities in Leipzig, Dresden, and Weimar, organized a conducting competition. At the competition in Leipzig in January, a student from the “Weimar Conducting Forge” was successful for the fourteenth time in a row.
First prize went to David Fernández Caravaca, a master's student in the conducting class of Prof. Ekhart Wycik and Prof. Gregor Bühl at the University of Music FRANZ LISZT Weimar.
Second prize went to Valerii Popov, a conducting student at the University of Music in Leipzig. Third prize went to Dongjun Lee from the Dresden Music University. The prize winners will conduct a concert with the MDR Symphony Orchestra on Thursday, March 19, at 6:00 p.m. in the MDR studio on Augustusplatz in Leipzig. Admission is free!
The decisive vote was cast by a jury consisting of conducting professors from the participating Music universities and members of the MDR Symphony Orchestra, based on two days of judging in the MDR rehearsal hall on Augustusplatz in Leipzig. The program included Johannes Brahms' “Tragic Overture,” excerpts from Beethoven's 8th Symphony, Richard Strauss' “Till Eulenspiegel,” and Olivier Messiaen's early orchestral work “Les offrandes oubliées.”
“We are delighted that David Fernández Caravaca won first prize,” says Weimar conducting professor Ekhart Wycik. “David has worked long and hard to achieve this. The MDR orchestra expressly praised his highly professional, effective rehearsal work and his confident orchestral conducting.”
The competition winner is also delighted. “It was wonderful to be able to work with the MDR Symphony Orchestra on four beautiful works. I am very pleased that the prize is coming back to Weimar,” said David Fernández Caravaca.
David Fernández Caravaca, born in Córdoba (Spain) in 1995, is one of the up-and-coming conductors of the young Spanish generation. He was already the first prize winner of the “Jeunesses Musicales” conducting competition in Valladolid in 2023. As an award, he was appointed assistant conductor of the “Castilla y León” symphony orchestra for two seasons.
Highlights of his 2025/26 season include debuts with the Elbland Philharmonie Sachsen, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife, and the Hofer Symphoniker, as well as returns to the Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra and the Südwestdeutsches Kammerorchester Pforzheim. He has also appeared with the Orquesta de Radio Televisión Española, the Bergische Symphoniker, the Real Orquesta Sinfónica de Sevilla, the Orquesta de Córdoba, the Landesjugendorchester Rheinland-Pfalz, and the Jenaer Philharmonie, among others.
In 2024, he was accepted into the second funding stage of the German Music Council's “Forum Conducting,” where he has been a scholarship holder since 2022. David Fernández Caravaca also serves as principal conductor of the Orquesta Joven de Córdoba. He is completing his conducting studies in the renowned class of Prof. Ekhart Wycik and Prof. Gregor Bühl at the University of Music FRANZ LISZT Weimar.
In addition, he completed postgraduate conducting studies at the Escuela Superior de Música “Reina Sofía” with Prof. Nicolás Pasquet, the former Weimar conducting professor, in the 2024/25 academic year.
[2 Februaray 2026]