Applications Open for Denmark's Malko Academy for Young Conductors

Denmark's Malko Academy for Young Conductors is now accepting applications until April 20. The program is intended to act as a springboard into an international conducting career and will give six successful applicants two years' worth of coaching in music analysis, theory and aural, piano, and conducting technique.

The academy is a new addition to the DR Koncerthuset's existing Malko Competition for Young Conductors, which is held every third year in Copenhagen and run by Fabio Luisi, Chief Conductor of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra (DNSO).

The successful applicants will gather in Copenhagen for weekend work once or twice a month and will get the opportunity to work with the DNSO.

Applications are free, and the organizers of the academy feel strongly that there should be as few barriers to entry as possible. Once selected, the students will pay no fees for the course: instead, their tuition, travel, and accommodation fees will be covered by the Swiss Foundation Caris.

"It is absolutely vital that it is not the financial situation of the applicants that decides whether or not they are able to participate in the educational program in Copenhagen," said Kim Bohr, the head of DR Koncerthuset. "We are only able to realize such high ambitions via external funding."

"We know from the Malko Competition that most young conductors come from an academy of music background," said Academy Manager Dominik Falenski. "With the new Malko Academy we would like to help such young people get up onto the conductor’s podium much earlier – possibly while they are still studying an instrument in their home country."

Prospective applicants can read more here.