On November 24, 2017, the jury of the 10th International Grzegorz Fitelberg Competition for Conductors announced the winners of this year’s edition. The jury—composed of: Juozas Domarkas – Chairman of the Jury, Mirosław Jacek Błaszczyk, Tomasz Bugaj, Mykola Diadiura, Piotr Gajewski, Eugeniusz Knapik, Charles Olivieri-Munroe, Jorma Panula, Marek Pijarowski, Ken Takaseki and Michael Zilm—awarded the following prizes and distinctions:
- FIRST PRIZE (Gold Baton and € 25,000)—Su-Han Yang, funded by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage
- SECOND PRIZE (Silver Baton and € 20,000)—Bar Avni, funded by the Marshal of the Silesia Province
- THIRD PRIZE (Bronze Baton and € 15,000)—Modestas Barkauskas, funded by the President of the City of Katowice
- First distinction (€ 10,000)—Aleš Kománek, funded by Powszechna Kasa Oszczędności Bank Polski SA
- Second distinction (€ 7,000)—Boon Hua Lien, funded by Mokate SA
- Third Distinction (€ 5,000)—Iaroslav Zaboiarkin, funded by The Music Foundation of the Grzegorz Fitelberg International Competition for Conductors, The Association of the Friends of Silesian Philharmonic and The Henryk Mikołaj Górecki Silesian Philharmonic
In addition to the prizes listed above, over 20 more “extracurricular prizes” were awarded to various participants as well, including further cash awards and many conducting opportunities throughout Poland. For the full list of prizes and details, visit: fitelbergcompetition.com.
In addition to works by such well known symphonists as Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, or Tchaikovsky, participants in the 10th Grzegorz Fitelberg International Competition for Conductors also presented their interpretations of works by Polish composers. Polish music by composers including Stanisław Moniuszko, Karol Szymanowski, Witold Lutosławski, Henryk Mikołaj Górecki, and Krzysztof Penderecki constitutes a dominant in the competition repertoire and is an obligatory element of each stage of the auditions. Throughout the duration of the competition, Competition organizers PWM Edition provided free copies of these scores from the PWM catalogue on the Issu platform, allowing listeners the unique opportunity to follow along with the relevant scores during competition events.
[Sources: pwm.com.pl, fitelbergcompetition.com]