The jury has decided
Eight prizewinners at the 16th national competition for practical school piano playing CARL BECHSTEIN
Weimar University President Prof Anne-Kathrin Lindig spoke of a "creative explosion" in her welcoming address: yesterday, Sunday, the 16th CARL BECHSTEIN National Competition for Practical Piano Playing in Schools ended at the Weimar Music university with a virtuoso and festive concert by the prizewinners in the Am Palais hall. 18 prospective music teachers from twelve German Music universities and universities travelled to the cheerful and exciting competition from 25 to 28 April.
This time, an overall prize was once again awarded across all rounds, which was won by Elias Smalko from the University of Music Würzburg. Julius Hutzler (Würzburg) was crowned the winner of the 1st "Liedspiel" round. Luisa Steg from the University of Music FRANZ LISZT Weimar won the second round of the "score and sight-reading" competition and was also awarded the audience prize.
"Luisa has an enormous stage presence and charisma paired with technical and musical perfection," said Weimar competition organiser Prof. Gero Schmidt-Oberländer. The prize for the 3rd "Improvisation" round went to Anna Bilo from the University of Music Mainz.
In addition to the overall prize and the round prizes, the jury, chaired by Prof. Dr Ortwin Nimczik, also awarded a number of special prizes. Max Jenkins (Detmold) won the special prize of the Federal Association of Music Education (BMU) for an excellently prepared and performed folk song. Daniel Sieler (Leipzig) won the Weimar Music university's special prize for a particularly convincing improvisation of a fugue.
For the first time, the CARL BECHSTEIN STIFTUNG, a new sponsor of the competition, awarded a special prize for the particularly successful realisation of a text in song form, which went to Sebastian Wappler (Dresden). Last but not least, Marie Heckmann (Cologne) won the jury's special prize for her excellent performance of her own song "Fliegen".
The next "Schupra" competition will take place in Weimar in 2026. The national competition has been organised by the University of Music FRANZ LISZT Weimar in cooperation with the Bundesverband Musikunterricht (BMU) since 1992. The university welcomed the CARL BECHSTEIN STIFTUNG as a new sponsor for the first time, whose representatives took part in the entire competition. The purpose of the foundation's new partner is to promote piano music and piano playing on a broad scale.
Further information: www.hfm-weimar.de/schupra
[29 April 2024]