Deadline approaches for Mahler Competition

Applications for Bamberg Symphony’s Mahler Competition will close at the end of this month. The international competition for young conductors invites applications from conductors under 35 years old to participate in the competition held in the German town of Bamberg in July 2023.

The 14 to 16 selected candidates will compete for the competition’s first prize which will include €30,000 plus career coaching and continued mentorship. A second prize of €20,000 and third prize of €10,000 are also available to be won. Previous Mahler Competition winners include Gustavo Dudamel (2006) and Lahav Shani (2013) as well as the most recent competition winner Finnegan Downie Dear (2020).

Participation in the competition is free, with all travel and accommodation expenses covered for the candidates chosen for the final stages. Competitors will lead the orchestra in a programme of works by Mahler, Haydn, Berg and Stravinsky as well as premiering a work written for the Bamberg Symphony by Bernd Richard Deutsch.

They will perform for a jury chaired by resident and CEO of Bamberg Symphony Marcus Rudolf Axt; as well as the Symphony’s chief conductor and new music director of the Royal Opera House, Jakub Hrůša. They will be joined by second Concertmaster at Bamberg Symphony Mayra Budagjan, plus conductors Barbara Hannigan, Juanjo Mena, John Storgards, John Carewe and as well as baritone Thomas Hampson; composer Miroslav Srnka and artist manager Martin Campbell-White.

The jury will also feature Deborah Borda, president and CEO of the New York Philharmonic; Ara Guzelimian, artistic and executive director of the Ojai Music Festival and former managing director of the Berlin Philharmonic, Pamela Rosenberg.

The jury will also be chaired by Gustav Mahler’s granddaughter Marina Mahler, who founded the competition with the Bamberg Symphony in 2004. Applications for the competition can be made online at the Mahler Competition website.