2022 Grand Prix Emanuel Feuermann Announces Competitors

Twelve young cellists have been selected to take part in the competition, which is to be held in Berlin from November 15-22, 2022

Coming off of an eight-year hiatus, Kronberg Academy and the Domenico-Gabrielli Foundation of Berlin University of the Arts (UdK Berlin) will be hosting the Grand Prix Emanuel Feuermann in Berlin for the fifth time. The international cello competition will be held in November 2022 and will celebrate what would have been Emanuel Feuermann's 120th birthday.

After an online preliminary round, the next three rounds will be held live in Berlin at the Berlin Philharmonie, the Jewish Museum, the Haus des Rundfunks, and Berlin University of the Arts. Competitors in the second round, semi-final, and final will be performing with the ensemble Metamorphosen Berlin, members of the Boccherini Trio, and the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, conducted by Josef Bastian. Prize winners will be awarded up to €15,000 in prize money and will receive professional development support for their future musical careers.

The competitors in the Grand Prix Emanuel Feuermann 2022:

Luca Giovannini, Italy

Johannes Gray, USA

Christoph Heesch, Germany

Irena Josifoska, Hungary

Bumjun Kim, France

Minji Kim, South Korea

Jiayi Liu, China

Keisuke Morita, Japan

Ivan Skanavi, Russia

Daniel Thorell, Sweden

Benett Tsai, Australia

Maria Zaytseva, Russia

The event starts off on November 15 with an opening concert, a performance with Rebecca Carrington and Colin Brown, followed by the three public rounds of the competition. It will conclude with concerts by the prize winners on November 22, Emanuel Feuermann’s birthday.

The 2022 jury includes Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, Karine Georgian, David Geringas, Jens Peter Maintz, Jérôme Pernoo, Torleif Thedéen, Raimund Trenkler, and Hillel Zori.

From 2002 to 2014, the cello competition was held in Berlin every four years, accompanied with multiple concerts leading up to the event. The competition was named after Emanuel Feuermann, who was a professor at Berlin University of the Arts until he was forced to emigrate in 1933. The first Grand Prix was held 20 years ago to mark Feuermann’s centenary.

"I hope that this competition awakens in the young cellists something of the musical spirit that Emanuel Feuermann brought into this world,” said Maestro Daniel Barenboim.

Further information about the competitors and a full competition schedule can be found here.