Prizes Announced at 2022 Grand Prix Emanuel Feuermann Competition

The first prize, which is endowed with €15,000, was awarded to Ivan Skanavi from Russia

The Grand Prix Emanuel Feuermann International Cello Competition, held in Berlin, Germany, gave a total of eight prizes this week, with a combined value of over €40,000.

The top three prizes are:

First prize and €15,000: Ivan Skanavi from Russia

Second prize and €10,000: Christoph Heesch from Germany

Third prize and €5,000: Benett Tsai from Australia

The special prize for the best interpretation of “Aphorismen und Bagatellen,” which was commissioned specifically for the competition from composer Jörg Widmann (*1973) and was performed by all competitors in the quarter-final, was given to Russian cellist Ivan Skanavi.

The special prize for the best interpretation of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Divertimento for String Trio, which was performed in the semi-final, went to Keisuke Morita from Japan. Australian Benett Tsai was awarded a special prize for the best interpretation of a cello concerto by Joseph Haydn.

In addition, the Young Talent Music Award is being presented to Jiayi Liu from China.

On Monday evening, Christoph Heesch was selected as the winner of the audience prize by those who attended the final. The jury further awarded two certificates for excellent performances to Irena Josifoska from Serbia and Johannes Gray from the USA.

Together with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, under the baton of conductor Joseph Bastian, the three finalists performed three cello concertos: the E minor concerto by Edward Elgar, Dmitri Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No 2 in G major, Op 126, and Robert Schumann’s Cello Concerto in A minor, Op 129.

The 2022 jury comprised Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, Karine Georgian, David Geringas, Jens Peter Maintz, Jérôme Pernoo, Torleif Thedéen, Raimund Trenkler, and Hillel Zori.

A gala concert and awards ceremony will bring the competition to a close on Tuesday, November 22, at Haus des Rundfunks.

Since 2002, the international cello competition in memory of the great virtuoso Emanuel Feuermann has been held in Berlin, organized by Kronberg Academy and the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK Berlin).