Prizewinners Announced at the Johann Sebastian Bach Competition Leipzig

Spanish cellist Victor García García won first prize in the cello category

Hosted by the Bach-Archiv Leipzig, the International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition is held every second year and is led by Robert Levin. The 2024 edition focused on the cello, the organ, and the voice, and was held from July 16 to 27.

The 30-year-old Spanish cellist Víctor García García received First Prize of €10,000 and a number of concert engagements. Second Prize of €7,500 was won by 27-year-old American cellist Johannes Gray, while Third Prize of €5,000 went to 30-year-old Italian cellist Bartolomeo Dandolo Marchesi.

A specialist in Baroque period performance, Víctor García García won Second Prize at the 2013 Witold Lutoslawski Cello Competition in Warsaw. He was previously Artist-in-Residence in the Schloss Weissenbrunn Music Academy, and in 2021, he received the AAOBS-Femás scholarship of the Baroque Orchestra of Seville.

He studied with Jens Peter Maintz at the University of the Arts Berlin and then with David Watkin at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. García García also holds a doctorate specializing in cello performance in the time of Beethoven.

"It has been a very long journey towards this moment and I am just grateful to have been given the opportunity to share this music with the audience," García García wrote on social media. "It was amazing to meet all the other colleagues."

"Congratulations to everyone for their wonderful playing!"