Concours de Genève Announces 2025/26 Conducting Candidates 

In all, 24 candidates have been selected to compete in the competition in November 2026

Switzerland’s Concours de Genève has welcomed back its Conducting Competition for the first time since 1994, when it was won by the acclaimed conductor Alan Gilbert.

Taking place over two years, the 2025/26 conducting edition will culminate in the semi-finals and finals in 2026, coinciding with the 80th anniversary of the Concours de Genève. 

For this edition, 168 conductors from more than 30 nationalities applied for the competition. From these, 24 candidates have been selected for the first round, including 10 from Europe, nine from Asia, one from South Africa, and one from Australia.

The 2025 conductors are:

• Stepan Armasar (24)
• Alejandro Cantalapiedra (30)
• Luis Castillo-Briceño (28)
• Jaehyuck Choi (30)
• Lars Corijn (28)
• Julia Cruz Carceller (28)
• Jacobus De Jager (28)
• Chao Dong (27)
• Zhongling Fang (28)
• Giovanni Fanizza (29)
• Guro Ansteensen Haugli (30)
• Nathanaël Iselin (32)
• Zofia Kiniorska (28)
• Josephine Korda (28)
• Qianyiyu Liu (25)
• Celia Llácer (30)
• Michal Oren (27)
• Simon Schmied (30)
• Ondrej Soukup (29)
• Mats Thiersch (22)
• Leonard Weiss (32)
• Yu-Te Wu (30)
• Sunny Xuecong Xia (29)
• Moyue Zhou (29)

The participants will have the opportunity to conduct the Orchestre de la Haute école de musique de Genève, L’Orchestre de Chambre de Genève, Ensemble Contrechamps, and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in répertoire spanning over three centuries, allowing them to demonstrate their artistic depth and versatility.

First prize will be awarded with CHF 20,000; second prize is CHF 12,000; and third prize is CHF 8,000. Three semi-finalists not selected for the finals will be awarded CHF 3,000 each. Special prizes include the Audience Prize with CHF 1,500. 

The first round will be held from October 31 to November 1, 2025, in Geneva, from which 12 candidates will be chosen to take part in the second round on November 2 and 3. 

Six semi-finalists will then compete from November 7–9, 2026, and three finalists will conduct the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande at Geneva’s Victoria Hall from November 10–13, 2026.

Chaired by Bertrand de Billy, the 2025/26 jury comprises Sonia Ben-Santamaria, Baldur Brönnimann, Martin Campbell-White, Marzena Diakun, Rémi Durupt, Laurent Gay, Claire Levacher, Sarah Nemtanu, Eva Ollikainen, Peter Oundjian, Natalia Ponomarchuk, Mark Stringer, Arturo Tamayo, and Wingsie Yip. 

“The jury, working in perfect harmony, reached a balanced result that reflects both the diversity of nationalities and the gender ratio already present in the pool of applicants,” de Billy commented.