10th Neeme Järvi Prize awarded in Gstaad
This year, Joséphine Korda, Simon Clausse and Shira Samuels-Shragg were awarded the Neeme Järvi Prize of the Gstaad Conducting Academy.
Over the past two weeks, up-and-coming conductors have had the opportunity to work with the Gstaad Festival Orchestra as part of the Gstaad Conducting Academy. Under the direction of Jaap van Zweden (Music Director of the Seoul Philharmonic and designated Music Director of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France), Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla (Music Director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra) and Johannes Schlaefli (Artistic Director of the Swiss Youth Symphony Orchestra SJSO and the Alumni Symphony Orchestra Zurich), Brahms' Symphony No. 3 and Dvořák's Symphony From the New World and Richard Strauss' Don Juan and Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5.
This year's main winner is Joséphine Korda (1996), who is currently Conductor in Residence at the Académie de l'Opéra in Paris. She will be guest conductor of the Bern Chamber Orchestra, the Philharmonie Südwestfalen, the Orchestre de chambre de Lausanne and the Sinfonie Orchester Biel Solothurn. Other prizewinners are Simon Clausse (2000) from France - he will be guest conductor at the Musikkollegium Winterthur - and Shira Samuels-Shragg (1997) - she will be able to work with the Basel Symphony Orchestra.
The Neeme Järvi Prize honors those participants of the Gstaad Conducting Academy who are particularly impressive in their development. Since 2015, the prize has been awarded directly after the final concert by a jury made up of teaching staff, festival management and members of the partner orchestras.
