winner of 17th Donatella Flick Conducting Competition in 2023 © Mark
Allan
Calling young conductors. Two international conducting competitions take place over the next year. The sixth edition of the Evgeny Svetlanov International Conducting Competition (CBSO) is to be held in Birmingham in September 2026 presented in partnership with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, music director Kazuki Yamada. The 18th Donatella Flick LSO Conducting Competition is coming next month and the 20 competitors have been announced.
The Evgeny Svetlanov International Conducting Competition is international and itinerant, having previously been held in Luxembourg, Montpellier, Paris (twice) and Monte-Carlo. The 2026 edition, travelling to Birmingham for the first time, offers young conductors the opportunity to work with the CBSO.
The artistic direction of the Competition is led by René Koering, former music director of Radio France and founder of the Radio France International Music Festival in Montpellier, and the jury will be chaired by conductor Bertrand de Billy. Since 2007, the Svetlanov Competition has welcomed more than 90 young conductors from around the globe. Each edition selects 18 participants from an average of 350 applications representing over 50 countries. Remarkably, over 80 percent of past participants have gone on to enjoy international careers, confirming the competition’s reputation as one of the most effective springboards for emerging conductors worldwide.
Thee competition runs from 3 to 6 September 2026 with the semi-finals and final open to the public. The competition will be broadcast on Medici TV. Applications for the 2026 edition will be open from 1 March to 15 April 2026. Further details from the website.
Now in its 35th year and internationally recognised as one of the world’s leading conducting competitions, the Donatella Flick LSO Conducting Competition will see the conductors compete for the £15,000 prize awarded by Donatella Flick and for the opportunity to become Assistant Conductor with the London Symphony Orchestra for up to one year. For the first time, the Competition will be filmed for Sky Arts.
The finalists announced come from nine countries: Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The competitors are drawn from the best conductors aged 30 or under who are citizens of the UK; countries having full membership of the European Union; and Norway, Iceland, Lichtenstein or Switzerland.
The chosen finalists are:
Felix Benati – French, Sieva Borzak – Italian, Jooyoung Chang – Austrian, Giovanni Conti – Italian, Riley Court-Wood – British, Matteo Dal Maso – Italian, Nina Haug – Swiss, Daniel Hogan – British, Piotr Jaworski – Polish, Maria Keller – German, Leonhard Kreutzmann – German, Julia Kurzydlak – Polish, Kingsley Lin – British, Jacob Niemann – German, Alison Norris – British, Friedrich Praetorius – German, Roman Reshetkin – French, Matthew Rhodes – British, Konstantinos Terzakis – Greek, Andreas van Tol – Swedish
Full biographical details from the Competition website,
The competition is at LSO St Lukes from 2 to 4 December 2025, and further information is available from the website.