VII OKMD – candidate auditions are underway
Michał Śmiechowicz, who a few days ago became the last candidate from the reserve list to be added to the list of participants in the 7th National Competition for Young Conductors, has begun the first day of competition auditions. Before Sunday’s opening concert of the 7th National Competition for Young Conductors, the youngest participant drew a letter of the alphabet (“Ś”), which determined the order of performance for the participants in the first stage of the Competition. Today (May 16), the conductor whose last name begins with the letter “Ś” performed first, followed by the participants whose last name begins with subsequent letters of the alphabet. The detailed order of performances is available at https://www.oifp.eu/kolejnosc-i-etapu-przesluchan/
Auditions for the young conducting students participating in this year’s OKMD started today (May 16th) on the Main Stage of the Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic. Auditions will be open to the public – for four days, everyone will be able to visit the Opera House on Odeska Street free of charge to hear works conducted by young artists.
In the first stage of auditions, (today and tomorow – May 16 and 17) will take part 24 participants.
Each conductor will select two works from Group A (Carl Maria von Weber – Overture to the opera ‘Der Freischutz’, Gioachino Rossini – Overture to the opera ‘Semiramide’, Władysław Żeleński – Characteristic Overture ‘In the Tatras’, Op. 27) and two from Group B (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Symphony No. 41 ‘Jupiter’ in C major, K. 551, Ludwig van Beethoven – Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major ‘Eroica’, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy – Symphony No. 3 in A minor ‘Scottish’, Op. 56). They will then randomly select one of the selected works from each group. They will have no more than 30 minutes to arrange them with the orchestra.
The top eight participants will advance to the second stage of the auditions (May 18 and 19). In this stage, the participant selects two works from the repertoire in Group A (Antonin Dvořák – Symphony No. 8 in G major, Op. 88; Pyotr Tchaikovsky – Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36; Johannes Brahms – Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68), and then draws one to perform. From Group B, the participants will draw one piece each (Henryk Wieniawski – Fantasie brillante, Op. 20, based on themes from Ch. Gounod’s opera Faust; Witold Lutosławski – Partita for violin and orchestra).
The young conductors will be judged by a jury composed of distinguished Polish conductors and professors from music universities, chaired by Mirosław Jacek Błaszczyk, artistic director of the Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic. The jury includes Tomasz Bugaj, Rafał Jacek Delekta, Sylwia Janiak-Kobylińska, Warcisław Kunc, Marek Pijarowski, Jacek Rogala, Piotr Sułkowski, and Monika Wolińska.
Who will win the title of best conductor of the young generation this year will be announced on the evening of May 19th, after the jury’s deliberations. The awards ceremony and the winners’ gala concert will take place on May 20th at 7:00 PM in the concert hall on Podleśna Street. Cash prizes of PLN 15,000, PLN 10,000, and PLN 5,000 await the winners. The first-prize winner will also receive the opportunity to participate in next year’s 11th International Grzegorz Fitelberg Conducting Competition in Katowice.
