The chamber music competition is one of three major competitions held in Austria, the other two being the International Mozart Competition in Salzburg and the Beethoven International Music Competition in Vienna.[5]
The competition's mission is to present Schubert’s chamber music in the context of contemporary chamber works so as to simultaneously interpret, at the highest level, the music of Franz Schubert alongside modern music.[2][6]
There is also an international composition competition held under the auspices of the FS&MM that endeavours to encourage the creation of new chamber works.[7] The 7th edition of the International Composition Competition Piano Trio was held in 2024 and sought contemporary compositions for Piano Trio (piano, violin and violoncello).[8] The winning composition became a set work in the piano trio repertoire of the second round of the main competition held in February 2025,[9] and led to the winning work's premiere with repeat performances. Composers from 54 countries submitted 206 trios.[10]
2025 competition
The 12th international chamber music competition was held 8–15 February 2025, at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz.[11] The eligibility requirements for the 2025 competition were for international musicians born after 15 February 1989.[12] For this edition of the competition 49 ensembles were selected from 325 overall entrants from 44 countries.[13]
The prizes awarded in the 12th competition totalled more than €74,000 and included mentoring and professional advice on career development for the winners of the first prizes.[1]
The jury for the Lied Duo category comprised Joseph Breinl (Germany), Lina Maria Åkerlund (Switzerland), Iain Burnside (Great Britain), Samuel Hasselhorn (Germany), Manuela Kerer (Italy), Tony Spence (Great Britain), Pauliina Tukiainen (Finland) and Sarah Wegener (Germany/Great Britain).[17]
The jury for the Piano Trio category comprised Chia Chou (Canada), Vincent Coq (France), Ellen Margrete Flesjø (Norway), Thomas Hoppe (Germany), Anssi Karttunen (Finland), Minna Pensola (Finland), Isabelle Van Keulen (The Netherlands) and Katharina Wincor (Australia).[17]
The Piano Duo jury members were: Sivan-Silver-Garburg & Gil Garburg (Israel),[18] Shani Diluka (France), Carlo Fabiano (Italy), Rico Gulda (Austria), Götz Schumacher (Germany), Adrienne Soós (Hungary/Switzerland), Arie Vardi (Israel) and Lena-Lisa Wüstendörfer (Switzerland).[17]
For the finals, the jury was augmented with five culturally prominent people from the music world: Annett Baumeister (Germany), Inna Davidova (Latvia), Birgit Hinterholzer (Austria), Ulf Werner (Germany),[19] and Michael Nemeth (Austria).[20]
Semi-finalists
The semifinals were held over two days, 10–11 February 2025.[21]
Four duos for voice and piano, four piano trios and three piano duos were admitted to the final round which was held over two days, 12 to 13 February 2025.[21]
The 2022 competition saw 36 lied duos and 24 piano trios enter the first round after having been selected from a total of 249 instrumentalists from 40 countries.[32] More specifically, 36 out of 75 applicants were admitted to the first round of the duo for voice and piano category and 24 out of 33 applicants made it through to the piano trio first round. These were further pared-down to 12 lied duos and 9 piano trios in the semifinals.
In the 2022 finals, the first prize was not awarded in the lied duo category.
2nd prize: Joint award to Duo Bella Adamova & Malte Schäfer (Czech Republic/Germany) and Duo André Baleiro & Pedro Costa (Portugal)[34]
3rd prize: Duo Sawako Kayaki & Haruka Ebina (Japan)[35]
The third-tier category was awarded with a special prize for the best interpretation of a specially commissioned work, On White Meadows,[note 5] by Judith Weir.[37]
Trio for piano, violin and violoncello
1st prize and special prize for the best interpretation of the prize-winning work of the International Piano Trio Composition Competition: Trio Orelon (Italy/Germany/Spain)[38]
The 10th international chamber music competition was held between 19 and 28 February, 2018,[39][40] in Graz and around €100,000 in aggregate prize value across the various categories was awarded.[41]
During the course of the competition, 341[note 6] entrants from 56 countries forming 92 duos for voice and piano, 35 trios for piano, violin and cello and 13 string quartets, competed for the chamber music awards.[42]
The first and second categories in the competition were lied duo and piano trio, however, the third category in the 2018 competition was for string quartet.[43] This edition of the competition also had an Audience Engagement Award that was given to the Gildas Quartet.[44]
The second round of the piano trio category saw the world première of Stück 2 (2017) by Jungjik Kim of South Korea,[45] the award-winning piano trio from the 2017 composition competition edition of the Franz Schubert and Modern Music Competition.[46]
String quartet
The Ãtma Quartet, from Poland, won an incentive award and the Bärenreiter Urtext Prize.[47] A special career advancement prize was awarded to the New Music Quartet (Poland).[48]
^Duo Felsberga & Eckhaut were also awarded a prize for the best interpretation of a specially commissioned work by German composer Annette Schlünz.[27]
^Members of the extended jury awarded Trio Brontë a special prize for professional CD production and promotion of a physical and digital CD release on the Solo Musica label.[29]
^Astatine Trio were also awarded the special interpretative prize for their performance of Xiaowen Lei's Fields, Cities, Skies, and Ruins (2024)[30] which was the prize-winning composition from the International Piano Trio Composition Competition 2024.[29]
^Duo Panova Gobbini were awarded a special prize of €1,000 for the best interpretation of a composition by a female composer.[31]
^On White Meadows was commissioned by the Franz Schubert and Modern Music Competition which took place at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Graz, in 2021.[36]
^Another source states 189 for the total number of young musicians and singers who took part in the 2018 competition.[41]
^"Schubert und die Musik der Moderne" [Schubert and the Modern Music]. steiermark.orf.at (in German). 3 February 2012. Retrieved 11 September 2024. Neben dem Mozart-Wettbewerb in Salzburg und dem Beethoven-Wettbewerb in Wien zählt der Grazer Schubert-Wettbewerb zu den drei großen Klassik-Bewerben Österreichs. [In addition to the Mozart Competition in Salzburg and the Beethoven Competition in Vienna, the Graz Schubert Competition is one of the three major classical music competitions in Austria.]
^"Weltbeste Kammermusik | Kulturzeitung 80" [World's best chamber music | Cultural Newspaper 80]. achtzig.com (in German). 8 February 2025. Retrieved 24 February 2025. Diese spiegelt die Anforderung, die Musik von Franz Schubert und die Musik der Moderne gleichzeitig auf höchstem Niveau zu interpretieren.
^"Repertoire Trio for Piano Violin and Violoncello FSMM2025"(pdf). schubert.kug.ac.at. p. 2. Retrieved 5 March 2025. Prizewinning work of the Competition for Composition (max. 15 minutes) … This Piano Trio is the prizewinning piece of the International Composition Competition 2024 for Piano Trio.
^Silver-Garburg, Sivan; Garburg, Gil. "Repertoire FS&MM 2025 – Piano Duo"(PDF). schubert.kug.ac.at. p. 2. Retrieved 13 September 2024. All works have to be originally written for piano, four hands or two pianos. Arrangements are accepted only if written by the composers. Works for piano, four hands are not allowed to be performed on two pianos.
^ abc"Jury 2025". schubert.kug.ac.at. Retrieved 22 February 2025.
^"Competitions". www.bmeia.gv.at. Helsinki. Retrieved 12 September 2024 – via Außenministerium der Republik Österreich. The artistic board consists of Joseph Breinl, Chia Chou and Sivan-Silver-Garburg & Gil Garburg under the chair of Rector Georg Schulz.
^ abc"Wettbewerb Schubert und die Moderne: Preisträger 2022 stehen fest" [Competition Schubert and the Modernity: Prizewinners 2022 have been announced]. magazin.klassik.com. 28 July 2022. Retrieved 12 September 2024. Insgesamt hatten sich 249 Musiker aus 40 Nationen zur Teilnahme beworben, für die erste Runde wurden letztlich 36 Liedduos und 24 Klaviertrios zugelassen.
^"Bella Adamova and pianist Malte Schäfer successful at the Graz competition". Makropulos Music. 28 July 2022. Retrieved 13 September 2024. Mezzo-soprano Bella Adamova in duo with pianist Malte Schäfer won second prize in their category ... the second place is shared by with the Portuguese duo André Baleiro (baritone) & Pedro Costa (piano).
^"Franz Schubert and Modern Music 2022 – Documentation". issuu.com. 3 July 2023. pp. 18–19. Retrieved 13 September 2024. Duo Kayaki/Ebina 3rd Prize & Special Prize ... Soprano Sawako Kayaki and pianist Haruka Ebina formed a duo in the spring of 2021 for the Franz Schubert and Modern Music competition.
^Van Nevel, Jannah (9 August 2022). "Alumna Sawako Kayaki & the Chamber Music Competition 'Franz Schubert und die Musik der Moderne'". International Opera Academy (in Flemish). Retrieved 13 September 2024. IOA-alumna Sawako Kayaki (soprano) & her pianist Haruka Ebina gained the 3rd place in the Chamber Music Competition 'Franz Schubert und die Musik der Moderne' in the category "Song Duo" and they got a special prize for best interpretation of a piece commissioned by Judith Weir.
^"im Portrait - Franz Schubert und die Musik der Moderne" [in the portrait - Franz Schubert and modern music]. portraits.klassik.com (in German). Retrieved 26 February 2025. Franz Schubert und die Musik der Moderne: 19. Februar - 28. Februar 2018.
^ ab"189 Kandidaten traten an: Internationale Teilnehmer räumten bei Grazer Schubert-Wettbewerb ab" [189 candidates competed: International participants won the Schubert Competition in Graz.]. www.kleinezeitung.at (in German). 1 March 2018. Retrieved 27 February 2025. 189 junge Musiker und Sänger aus aller Welt haben seit 19. Februar in Graz am internationalen Schubert-Wettbewerb der Kunstuniversität Graz (KUG) teilgenommen ... Insgesamt wurden Preise in der Höhe von 100.000 Euro vergeben.
^Ternai, Michael (12 December 2017). "Franz Schubert und die Musik der Moderne". mica - music austria (in German). Retrieved 26 February 2025. 341 junge Musikerinnen und Musiker aus 56 Nationen haben sich für die Teilnahme 2018 akkreditiert. [341 young musicians from 56 nations have accredited themselves for their participation in 2018.]
^"The Gildas Quartet appoints new members". The Strad. 15 May 2024. Retrieved 24 February 2025. The Gildas Quartet was established in 2011 ... and won first prize in the 2018 Audience Engagement Award at the International Franz Schubert and Modern Music Competition in Graz, Austria.
^"5th AEC Annual Congress and General Assembly"(PDF). aec-music.eu. 8–10 November 2018. p. 6. Retrieved 26 February 2025. Stück 2 (the winning composition at the International Chamber Music Competition "Franz Schubert and Modern Music", 2017, Graz).
^"2017". schubert.kug.ac.at. Retrieved 26 February 2025. Jungjik KIM (Republic of Korea): "Stück 2". International Composition Competition 2017 in the category "Piano Trio" by the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz...
^"New Music Quartet". schubert.kug.ac.at. Retrieved 27 February 2025. New Music Quartet won the Advancement Prize at the 2018 FS&MM.
^"Simply Quartet: - NOSPR". nospr.org.pl. Retrieved 25 February 2025 – via Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra. In February 2018 they won the First Prize in the International "Schubert and Modern Music" Chamber Music Competition.
^"Mikhail Timoshenko". RSB. Retrieved 26 February 2025 – via Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin. Mikhail is laureate of many competitions, ... together with his Lied-Duo-Partner Elitsa Desseva he won First Prizes in "Franz Schubert und die Moderne", Graz...
^Werbeagentur, Deutscher Tele Markt GmbH-Internet- und (1 March 2018). "Liedduo Preis beim Wettbewerb „Schubert und die Moderne"" [Lied Duo Prize in the “Schubert and Modernity” Competition]. Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber Dresden (in German). Retrieved 3 March 2025. Jussi Juola und Eun Hye Kang haben am 27.2.2018 beim Internationalen Wettbewerb „Schubert und die Moderne" in Graz den 3. Preis in der Kategorie Liedduo gewonnen. [Jussi Jusuola and Eun Hye Kang took the 3rd place in the International Competition “Schubert und die Moderne” in Graz on 27 February, 2018.]
^"Grazer Schubert-Wettbewerb kürt Gewinner" [Graz Schubert Competition selects winners]. magazin.klassik.com (in German). Retrieved 27 February 2025. Das Trio Marvin war als zweitplatzierstes Ensemble das beste in der Sparte Klaviertrio; ein erster Preis wurde hier nicht vergeben.
^"Duo piano & cello Jasmina Kulaglich et Aurelienne Brauner - Conservatoire Rachmaninoff". conservatoire-sr.com. Retrieved 26 February 2025 – via Conservatoire Rachmaninoff de Paris. With the Trio Gallien, made up of Tristan Liehr (violin) and Emmanuel Christien (piano), she won in February 2018 the 3rd prize in the prestigious chamber music competition "Franz Schubert und die Musik der Moderne" in Graz,...
