International Conducting Competition Rotterdam Announces 2025 Winners

The Grand Prix was jointly awarded to Luis Castillo-Briceńo and Miguel Sepúlveda

The final round of the International Conducting Competition Rotterdam (ICCR) has recently come to a close in the Netherlands. 

All six finalists performed with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Klangforum Wien, Orchestra of the 18th Century, and the Laurens Symphony Chorus. View the live-streamed performances here on The Violin Channel!

The joint winners for the Grand Prix for Best Allrounder are Luis Castillo-Briceńo and Miguel Sepúlveda, who both received a €15,000 cash award among other prizes. 

Castillo-Briceño won an additional €9,000 in special prizes for Classical Music, the Proms Open Air Concert, and Great Symphonic Works. Sepúlveda also received the Codarts Award and €6,000 in special prizes for Contemporary Music and Opera. 

The competition’s Audience Award went to Rodrigo Sámano Albarrán. The three other designated winners are Sam Weller, Yukuang Jin, and Jakub Przybycień.

“It started with a Bam and it ended with an even greater one!!!” Castillo-Briceño shared on Facebook. “Over the moon from these 2 incredible weeks of music making and friendship with so many amazing musicians on and off stage at the ICCR.

“Super excited to have won the Grand Prix (ex-aequo with my dear friend and colleague Miguel Sepúlveda), together with winning also 3 of the 5 rounds of competition!”

The 2025 final jury comprised Jonathan Nott, Vasily Petrenko, Sarah Hicks, Evelino Pidò, Kirill Karabits, Otto Tausk, Roberta Alexander, Marieke Blankestijn, Deborah Borda, Han-Na Chang, Brett Dean, Sian Edwards, Wolfgang Fink, Iván Fischer, Dame Jane Glover, Ara Guzelimian, Vimbayi Kaziboni, Stephan MacLeod, Johan de Meij, Cathy Milliken, Ulrike Niehoff, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Christina Pluhar, Pamela Rosenberg, Kwamé Ryan, Ed Spanjaard, Elmar Weingarten, George Wiegel, Eric Whitacre, Bas Wiegers, Mark Williams, and Yip Wing-sie.