The winners of the 11th Grzegorz Fitelberg International Conductors' Competition are:
First Prize: Jong-Jie Yin
Second Prize: Sergey Simakov
Third Prize: Mikhail Mering
see more: fitelbergcompetition.com
The task for participants in most music competitions is to display their skills in playing an instrument or in singing. Yet there are competitions that break that seemingly obvious rule. They include the Grzegorz Fitelberg International Competition for Conductors, being held for the eleventh time in Katowice, after a six-year hiatus, on the centenary of its patron’s death. In this competition, in each of the three rounds, the young conductors draw two works at random (from among those which they previously selected) and then, after less than an hour’s rehearsal with the orchestra, present their interpretation before the members of the jury and the audience. The Competition laureates, besides their titles and prizes, receive numerous invitations to conduct Polish and foreign orchestras. The Warsaw concert featuring the prize-winners and the Silesian Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, which played an active part in the Competition, will take place just a few days after the results are announced and will constitute the official closure of the Competition.
Bartłomiej Gembicki