ARD International Music Competition Munich Announces Finalists

The competition is currently hosting competitions for double bass, viola, piano trio, and harp categories

Hosted annually, the ARD International Music Competition Munich is one of the largest international classical music competitions in Germany.

The finals of the Double Bass competition will take place on September 8, 2023, and will see finalists José Trigo (Portugal), Hongyiu Thomas Lai (Hong Kong), Gabriel Polinsky (USA) perform with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks and conductor Andrew Grams.

The jury for the Double Bass Competition is Timothy Cobb (Chairperson), Heinrich Braun, Michinori Bunya, Christine Hoock, Goran Kostic, Daniele Roccato, and Sandrine Vautrin.

The finals of the Piano Trio competition will take place on September 9, 2023, and will see finalists Trio Orelon, Trio Pantoum, and Amelio Trio compete for the top prizes.

The jury for the Piano Trio Competition is Susan Tomes (Chairperson), Jitka Čechová, Soo-Kyung Hong, Esther Hoppe, Per Lundberg, Raphaël Pidoux, and Annette von Hehn.

The semi-finals of the Viola competition will take place on September 8 and see Kyungsik Shin, Njord Kårason Fossnes, Haesue Lee, Brian Isaacs, Takehiro Konoe, and Ionel Ungureanu.

The jury for the Viola Competition is Lars Anders Tomter (Chairperson), Steven Ansell, Tatjana Masurenko, Jutta Puchhammer-Sédillot, Naoko Shimizu, Edward Vanderspar, and Wen Xiao Zheng.

The Harp competition has come to a close and awarded Tjasha Gafner the 1st Prize + Audience Prize, and Lea Maria Löffler and Alexandra Bidi the joint 2nd Prize.

Previous 1st prize winners include luminaries Jessye Norman, Francisco Araiza, Natalia Gutman, Christoph Eschenbach, Nobuko Imai, Mitsuko Uchida, Thomas Quasthoff, Yuri Bashmet, Christian Tetzlaff, Sharon Kam, Heinz Holliger, Isabelle Moretti, Peter Sadlo and Maurice André.