German Conductor’s Award

The German Conductor’s Prize will have its premiere in Cologne in September. The German Conductor’s Prize is an international competition for young conductors held by the German Music Council in partnership with the Cologne Philharmonic, the Cologne Opera, the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, and the WDR Symphony Orchestra. 12 young talents who have successfully gone through the application and selection process will present themselves in Cologne with two top orchestras, the WDR Symphony Orchestra and the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, as well as with singers from the Cologne Opera. In the process, the candidates demonstrate their abilities in the opera and concert genres. The jury of the German Conductor’s Prize is composed of personalities from the international music community. With Christoph von Dohnanyi (honorary chairman), Lothar Zagrosek (chairman) and Hartmut Haenchen, three well-known conductors are involved in the jury. Other jury members are Siegwald Butow, orchestra manager and producer of the WDR Symphony Orchestra, Louwrens Langevoort, Intendant of the Cologne Philharmonie and CEO of KölnMusik GmbH, Dr. Birgit Meyer, artistic director of the Cologne Opera, as well as composer Philippe Manoury and chamber singer Jan-Hendrik Rootering. Besides prize money totalling up to EUR 35,000, the prizewinners will be awarded concert engagements and assistant roles with German orchestras and opera houses. The German Conductor’s Prize 2017 is sponsored by the city of Cologne, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, and the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.