Applications Closing for Austria’s International Chamber Music Competition “Franz Schubert and Modern Music”

Open to piano trios, piano duos, and voice and piano duos, applications will close on September 24, 2024

The 12th International Chamber Music Competition “Franz Schubert and Modern Music” is open to international piano trios, piano duos, and voice and piano duos, with members aged 35 and under. 

To be held at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz from February 8–15, 2025, the triennial competition offers prize money totaling around €75,000, and career consulting and supervision for first-place prizewinners. 

Other benefits will include comprehensive feedback from industry professionals, networking opportunities, career-planning workshops, music outreach, plus promotion and self-management.

To apply for the competition in its respective sections, click here. The deadline for applications for all three categories is September 24, 2024. 

For the Piano Trio division, first prize is €13,500, second prize is €9,750, and third prize is €6,750 — in addition to the best interpretation of the prize-winning work of the International Piano Trio Composition Competition, which is valued at €1,500.

The piano trio jury will include Chia Chou (chair), Vincent Coq, Ellen Margrete Flesjø, Thomas Hoppe, Anssi Karttunen, Minna Pensola, Isabelle Van Keulen, and Katharina Wincor. The preliminary jury will be Chou, Bernhard Albrecht, and Dagmar Birwe.

In the Voice and Piano (lied) category, first prize will include €9,000, second prize is €6,500, and third prize will be awarded with €4,500. Special prizes will include the best interpretation of the commissioned work by Annette Schlünz, and the Stacey Bartsch Memorial Prize — both valued at €1,000. 

The lied jury comprises Joseph Breinl (chair), Lina Maria Åkerlund, Iain Burnside, Samuel Hasselhorn, Manuela Kerer, Toby Spence, Pauliina Tukiainen, and Sarah Wegener. The preliminary jury will include Breinl, Åkerlund, and Tukiainen.

The Piano Duo category is a new addition to the competition this year. The first prize is also €9,000, second prize is €6,500, and third prize is €4,500. The special prize of €1,000 is for the best interpretation of a work by a female composer. 

Co-chaired by Sivan Silver-Garburg and Gil Garburg, the piano duo jury will comprise Carlo Fabiano, Rico Gulda, Götz Schumacher, Adrienne Soós, Arie Vardi, Lena-Lisa Wüstendörfer, and Shani Diluka. The preliminary jury will include Silver-Garburg and Garburg, Nicolas Bringuier, and Lestari Scholtes. 

Additionally, the competition will involve an overall extended jury, which will comprise Annett Baumeister, Inna Davidova, Birgit Hinterholzer, Michael Nemeth, and Ulf Werner.

For more information click here. 

A short video about the competition can be viewed below. 

For young musicians to address modernity in music, and the connections between their music studies and professional music careers, one of the unique elements of this competition is its juxtaposition of contemporary music with the works of Franz Schubert. 

“Especially in times of political tensions and armed conflicts, we emphasize the unifying and humanistic character of music,” reads the competition’s website. “Music as a common language unites people and has the potential to overcome conflicts or at least make them fade into the background for a while. Our competition therefore stands for values ​​such as respect, tolerance, diversity and solidarity on the basis of an international community.”