From February 18th to February 22nd, 2009, the final rounds of “Das Lied - International Song Competition” will be held in the Studiosaal at the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” Berlin.
Why yet another competition?
Because as artistic director and founder of the competition Thomas Quasthoff has said, “The Liederabend is the most original and most intimate artistic form of classical song. As an artist, I have dedicated myself to singing Lieder for many years, and I sincerely hope to
preserve and reanimate this art form.” This is why this competition is solely dedicated to the Lied genre.
The goal is to allow young, highly-gifted singers and their pianists to be able to gauge themselves against other singers of their generation in a competition environment. In addition, the prizewinners will also be given the opportunity to appear at important concert halls around the world, such as London’s Wigmore Hall, Vienna’s Musikverein, and Berlin’s Philharmonie. To guarantee their effectiveness in furthering the musicians’ careers, all financial awards take the form of monthly stipends.
125 singers, born in 1977 or later, applied from 27 countries, and 40 were chosen from among them and invited to Berlin. The prizewinners will be selected in three final rounds and announced on February 21st, 2009. The prizewinners’ concert will take place on February 22nd, 2009, at 12 pm in the Apollo-Saal at Berlin’s Staatsoper Unter den Linden.
The jury consists of the singers Brigitte Fassbaender, Christa Ludwig and Peter Schreier, the pianists Helmut Deutsch and Charles Spencer and Martin Engström - the director of the Verbier Festival - and is chaired by Thomas Quasthoff.
The competition “Das Lied - International Song Competition” was made possible by the generous support of Johanna Quandt and Brigitte and Arend Oetker.
For more information, please visit our website at www.das-lied.com.
If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact me.
Sincerely,
Claudia Quasthoff
Press
E-Mail: presse(at)das-lied.com