Daye Lin from China (32) has won the 6th Sir Georg Solti International Conducting Competition in Frankfurt am Main
First Prize was won by the 32 year Daye Lin. from China. Second Prize was awarded to Daniel Smith (30) from Australia and the Third Prize to Brandon Keith Brown (31) from the USA.
Prize money: €15,000 for the winner, €10,000 for the 2nd prize and €5000 for the 3rd.
Winners of the 1st and 2nd prizes also receive invitations to conduct the Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester, the hr-Sinfonieorchester and other international orchestras in Germany and elsewhere.
Three finalists conducted The Frankfurt Radio Symphony this morning at the Alte Oper Frankfurt – the works, drawn by lots, were: the overture to Euryanthe“ op. 81 by Carl Maria von Weber (Daniel Smith), the overture to, Rienzi, der letzte der Tribunen“ by Richard Wagner (Brandon Keith Brown) and the overture to, Fledermaus“ by Johann Straus (Daye Lin). All three candidates then conducted the 2nd suite from Maurice Ravel’s „Daphnis and Chloë“.
Chairman of the jury Rolf-E. Breuer announced the results after consultation with the jury, members of which had also attended rehearsals for the final concert which took place on Friday and Saturday. „We want this competition to be a platform for future world class conductors“, said Breuer.
The thrilling morning was rounded off with Emil von Řezníček’s Donna Diana ouverture, conducted by the winner, Daye Lin. The score of this (surprise) work was only given to the candidates at the beginning of the competition.
The Final’s Jury, chaired by Rolf-E. Breuer, consisted of: Ingo de Haas (1st Leader of the Opern- und Museumsorchester), Bernd Loebe (Intendant & Managing Director of Oper Frankfurt), Dr. Stephan Pauly (Intendant & Managing Director of Alte Oper Frankfurt), Markus Stenz (General Music Director of the City of Cologne, GürzenichKapellmeister), Sebastian Weigle (General Music Director of the City of Frankfurt, Oper
Frankfurt and the Opern- und Museumsorchester), Andrea Zietzschmann (Manager of the Music Department and Orchestra at the Hessischen Rundfunk and Orchestral Manager of the hr-Sinfonieorchester). 405 conductors, aged between 20 and 35, from 70 countries, applied to take part in this year’s competition. 22 of them were invited to come to Frankfurt to take part in preliminary rounds (September 17th–20th) with the Opern- und Museumsorchester and The Frankfurt Radio Symphony, from which three finalists were selected.