Swiss Wind Band Association Awards Conducting Prizes
At the 11th Conducting Competition of the Swiss Wind Band Association (SBV), the jury awarded second prizes to Luca Belz and Romain Gili. A third prize went to Julia Wyser. However, the first prize was not awarded.
The three-part competition presented the nine participants with a variety of challenges. In the preliminary round, they spent twenty minutes rehearsing a composition unknown to the WindOrchestra Baden Wettingen. The jury focused primarily on evaluating their rehearsal techniques. Six talented conductors qualified for the semifinals. There, they had five minutes to rehearse a piece they were familiar with alongside the elite Brass Band Emmental, which was then performed immediately afterward. The focus was on conducting technique. Julia Wyser, Luca Belz, and Romain Gili qualified for the finals. The competition requirements are “extremely high,” according to the SBV; for this reason, the jury—consisting of Annick Villanueva (F), Chiara Vidoni (I), and Stefan Roth (CH)—did not award a first prize.
Romain Gili won second prize. Gili studied trumpet, piano, and orchestral conducting and holds a master’s degree in orchestral and choral conducting (Lucerne, 2024). He conducts the Orchestre Bis Repetita Lausanne, the Affoltern a. A. Orchestra Society, the NAK Switzerland Youth Symphony Orchestra, the Mühlau Music Society, the Alpenrösli Unteriberg Brass Band, the Sooregosler-Chörli Oberkirch, and the choir of the Entlebuch Theater Society.
Luca Belz, who also received second prize, conducts the Wasen i. E. Music Society. He is active in the Swiss music scene as a trumpeter and conductor and holds degrees in music education and wind band conducting. In 2023, he founded the project orchestra Blasorchester Region Bern, with the goal of performing symphonic music at the highest level. That same year, he conducted the Swiss Army Wind Orchestra at the aVENTura Festival.
Julia Wyser, who won third prize, plays the trumpet. She conducts the Stadtmusik Dietikon (ZH) and the Musig Sulgen (TG). She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Wind Ensemble Conducting and Trumpet from the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts and will begin a master’s program in Trumpet Pedagogy with a minor in Orchestral Conducting at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) in September.
