Here’s what you can win

The two winners will receive:

• Your own website designed by the agency VAN VON
• Two career-coaching sessions on career development, artistic profile and social media over the course of one year, taking place in Berlin or online (depending on the pandemic situation), directed by VAN. This includes the travel to/from Berlin, including two nights in a three star hotel per session, if the situation allows it to happen physically.
• Financial workshop with recommendations on how to prepare for self-employment, save for rainy days, make small investments and plan for retirement by Julius Baer. The date and venue will be fixed based on your residence. Depending on the pandemic situation, this could be taking place online.
• Two day-participation as a visiting student of the Verbier Festival Academy in July 2022. This includes travel to Verbier, accommodation for three nights at an apartment or three star hotel, tickets to Verbier Festival concerts (subject to availability), attendance at Academy masterclasses and rehearsals and a coaching session with a member of the Academy faculty.

The six finalists will receive:

• The production of a professional personal video trailer on 28/29 August 2021 in Hamburg. If the pandemic situation allows it, you need to be able to come to Hamburg physically in order to get this prize. Travel to/from Hamburg and two nights at a hotel in Hamburg will be arranged and paid for.
• A photo shooting with professional photographers during the finals in Berlin.

Here’s who is eligible

• The international competition is open to musicians of any nationality born in or before 2003 who are currently studying at the university level, or have graduated, in any subject, between 2016 and 2020.
• No singers, conductors, or ensembles, sorry.

Here’s what you need to apply

• A written concert program with a length of roughly 45 minutes (composer and work title, publisher/rights holder). There are absolutely no restrictions on style, period, etc. of the works, or on the number of works.
• A brief (max. 500 words) statement on your choice of program.
• A video recording of you performing one work from your suggested program.
• A brief artistic CV (in English).
• A scan of your passport or ID-card for proof of age (file format .jpg or .pdf).

Here’s what happens in the finals

• We’ll pay for your travel costs, including two nights in a three star hotel. If you can get to Berlin in under eight hours by train, please don’t fly.
• Each finalist will perform their entire program at the Musikbrauerei in Berlin. The finals are private.
• The jury will make their decision right after the last person plays.

Timetable

• Apply in writing by June 30, 2021, at midnight Central European Time. 
• Applications that arrive after June 30, 2021, midnight Central European Time, are only accepted for further consideration under exceptional circumstances and with the express approval of the competition’s organizers.
• Finalists will be notified by July 15, 2021, at the latest.
• Mark the weekend of August 28–29, 2021 in your calendar to participate in a video documentary with the finalists, produced by the Elbphilharmonie, VAN, and Julius Baer.
• Finals will take place on January 24–25, 2022 in Berlin.

Jury

• Mirijam Contzen (violinist)
• Barbara Lebitsch (programming director, Elbphilharmonie & Laeiszhalle Hamburg)
• Eric Lamb (flutist and professor, International Academy of Music and Performing Arts Vienna)
• Anne Midgette (former chief classical music critic, Washington Post)
• Julian Steckel (cellist)
• Lars Vogt (pianist and conductor)
• Hartmut Welscher (founder & editor-in-chief, VAN Magazine)