The Budapest Festival Orchestra and Müpa Budapest are co-launching a competition for amateur conductors. The four winners will have the opportunity to lead the orchestra in one movement each of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 at the closing concert of the Beethoven Marathon co-organised with Müpa Budapest at Béla Bartók National Concert Hall on 2 February 2020.
Who can apply?
Anyone above the age of 18 without a conductor, choral conductor and/or wind band conductor degree or ongoing relevant training. Though we are looking mostly for amateurs, the competition is also open to professional musicians. Applicants may have secondary or higher level instrumentalist qualification.
What will be the task?
To conduct all four movements of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7.
What is the application deadline?
Applications should be submitted by midnight Monday, 30 September 2019 to karmesterkerestetik@bfz.hu.
What needs to be submitted?
- A CV and a short personal introduction
- A few lines describing why the applicant would like to conduct, what their relationship to classical music is
The conductor competition process:
The competition has two rounds.
- Once applications have been received and reviewed, those who may participate in the first round will get an invitation email by 5 October at the latest.
- The task for the first round will be to lead the piano in the 1st movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7.
- Those who make it to the second round will be notified by email the next day.
- In the second round, applicants will be asked to also conduct the other movements of the symphony for piano. The jury will then select the four winners who can conduct the Budapest Festival Orchestra in one movement of the symphony each.
- The four winners will be notified by email on the next day of the second round.
- In the next period, the four selected applicants will attend orchestra rehearsals to prepare for the concert with the help of the members of the jury.
Date of the first round: 12-13 October 2019
Date of the second round: 5-6 November 2019
Individual preparation with members of the jury at individually arranged times during the period from November 2019 and January 2020.
Orchestra rehearsals: 1 February 2020
Dress rehearsal at Müpa Budapest: 2 February 2020
Date and venue of the performance: 2 February 2020, 9.00 p.m., Müpa Budapest, Béla Bartók National Concert Hall
To enter the competition, applicants need to be able to clear their schedule at times to the previously agreed appointments for the purpose of ensuring the success of the preparation.
Jury members:
Ádám Cser, conductor
Gergely Dubóczky, conductor (head of jury)
András Vass, conductor
The process is supervised by the Music Director oft he Budapest Festival Orchestra, Iván Fischer.
Other application criteria:
Applicants must agree to the processing of their data (the GDPR statement is available for download here) and public appearances throughout the duration of the competition.
The conductor competition may involve making video and audio recordings of the applicants, who must agree to the publication of these.
The winners of the conductor competition agree to make statements to the press regarding the competition.
