308 young musicians from 56 countries on five continents applied for the second Zoltán Kodály International Music Competition, which was held on August 20-28 with the participation of 38 conductors selected at the pre-selection. It will be held in Debrecen and the chairman of the jury will be the world-famous Finnish conductor Jorma Panula.
Unusually, the young conductors will conduct not only orchestral pieces but also many oratorio pieces. The applicants – who include conductors from Venezuela, Morocco, Estonia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan and New Zealand – took part in a video pre-selection before the three-round competition to find out who will be invited to the live competition on August 20-28. between – they wrote, adding: based on the decision of the preliminary jury, 38 competitors can finally start the competition, including six Hungarian participants: Dénes-Worowski Marcell, Dániel Erdélyi, Johannes Marsovszky, Paul Marsovszky, Csaba Sámuel Tóth and Levente Zsíros.
“This year, the 100th anniversary of the Kodály Philharmonic Orchestra coincides with the centenary of the Psalmus Hungaricus, so our old dream of organizing an oratorio conductor competition in Debrecen can finally come true, for which the Zoltán Kodály International Music Competition, which was launched with great success last year, provides a great framework,” the announcement quoted Dániel Somogyi-Tóth, the chief music director of Debrecen.
The seven-member international jury is chaired by a true legend, 92-year-old Jorma Panula, who as a professor at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki can claim students such as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Mikko Franck, Sakari Oramo, Jukka-Pekka Saraste or Osmo Vänskä. János Ács (Italy/Hungary), Peter Broadbent (United Kingdom), Remy Franck (Luxembourg), Zsolt Hamar (Hungary), Okszana Madaras (Ukraine) and Dániel Somogyi-Tóth take part in the work of the jury – reads the announcement.
The focus of the competition is Zoltán Kodály’s masterpiece, Psalmus Hungaricus, composed a hundred years ago this year. The organizers of the competition are the Kodály Philharmonic Orchestra, which is also celebrating its centenary, the world’s largest youth music organization, Jeunesses Musicales, and Papageno. Just like last year, the University of Debrecen will be an important cooperating partner of the Kodály competition, which presents young musicians from all over the world, they announced.
After the video pre-selection, August 20-28, 2023. in three rounds, the contestants will compete as a partner of the Kodály Philharmonic Orchestra and the Kodály Choir in Debrecen. Conductors have 15 minutes in the first round and 30 minutes in the second to perform the program determined by the jury. The jury will advance a maximum of 12 contestants to the second round, and six contestants to the third round, where each of the finalists will conduct the 100-year-old Psalmus Hungaricus.
The detailed regulations of the competition with a total prize of 40,000 euros can be viewed at this link.
The Zoltán Kodály International Music Competition is organized in different categories: for the first time, string players (violinists, viola players and cellists) measured their skills in 2022. At that time, 200 young musicians from 43 countries on five continents applied, and according to the jury’s decision, the 18-year-old Spanish cellist, Carlos Vidal, won the first prize – recalled the organizers.
MTI
