Winners Announced at 2023 ARD International Music Competition Munich

The competition recently concluded its 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 Double Bass competition awarded First Prize to Gabriel Polinsky, Second Prize and the Audience Award to Hongyiu Thomas Lai, and Third Prize to José Trigo. The prize for the best performance of the commissioned work went to Naomi Shaham.

The finalists performed 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 Piano Trio competition gave First Prize and the Audience Award to Trio Orelon, Second Prize to the Amelio Trio, and Third Prize to Trio Pantoum. The prize for the best performance of the commissioned work went to Trio Bohémo.

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 Viola competition saw Haesue Lee take First Prize and the Audience Award, while giving out joint Third Prize to Takehiro Konoe and Ionel Ungureanu. The latter also received the prize for best performance of the Commissioned Piece.

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 awarded Tjasha Gafner the First Prize and Audience Prize, and Lea Maria Löffler and Alexandra Bidi the joint Second 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.