Jeunesses Musicales Bucharest
Sixty-two (62) conductors from 30 countries (in North and South America, Europe and Asia) signed up for the 4th edition of the International Conducting Competition Jeunesses Musicale Bucharest and 50 of them made it to the first round.
The competition took place at the Romanian Athenaeum and ended with a Gala Concert of the finalists, before the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra in front of an audience of 700 people.
Hailed by Musical America for the “depth and sincerity of his musicality”, and revealing “a talent ready for international exposure”, Kahchun Wong drew international attention as the winner of the 5th International Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition 2016, and almost immediately made a string of sensational debuts with the China Philharmonic, Shanghai Symphony and Guangzhou Symphony, replacing Jesús López Cobos for three subscription weeks at short notice. The Los Angeles Philharmonic has appointed him as a Dudamel Conducting Fellow for the 2016/2017 season, and from September 2018, he will assume the position of Chief Conductor of the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra for an initial 4-year term.
Highlights of Wong’s current and future seasons feature European debuts with the Czech Philharmonic, Orchestre Capitole du Toulouse, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Staatskapelle Weimar, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg and Orquestra de València, as well as Asian debuts with the Tokyo Philharmonic, New Japan Philharmonic, Kanagawa Philharmonic, Kansai Philharmonic, Shanghai Philharmonic, Guangzhou Symphony and Kunming Symphony. He has additionally been invited to return to the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, China Philharmonic Orchestra, George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and Singapore Symphony Orchestra. Wong has also been engaged to assist Valery Gergiev and Yannick Nezet-Seguin with the Rotterdam Philharmonic, and Ivan Fischer with the Budapest Festival Orchestra on its North American tour in January 2018. As Nuremberg’s Chief Conductor Designate, he will embark on an extensive tour of China in December 2017, as well as leading Klassik Open Air, the largest European outdoor festival of classical music in summer 2018.
A strong advocate of music education, Wong is the co-founder of Project Infinitude, a grassroots initiative for children from diverse backgrounds to inspire their first musical steps. He feels strongly about giving back to the community which has raised him, and has initiated the pilot program in his home country of Singapore at the Enabling Village, a space where people with different abilities can feel accepted for who they are. He and his co-founder Marina Mahler, granddaughter of the composer Gustav Mahler, look to expand the project in a sustainable and thoughtful way to more communities in the future.
A protégé of Kurt Masur, who was a profound figure in his musical development, Wong had the privilege of sharing the podium on multiple occasions together with him in his last years, in cities such as Leipzig, New York and Tokyo. Over years of musical training, he has been mentored by leading figures in the classical music world such as Gustavo Dudamel, Bernard Haitink, Heinz Holliger and Esa-Pekka Salonen.
Born in 1986 in Singapore, Wong began learning the trumpet at the age of 7. After serving as a military musician in the Singapore Armed Forces, he read composition at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music (National University of Singapore), before continuing his studies in conducting with Christian Ehwald, Hans-Dieter Baum and Manuel Nawri at the Hanns Eisler Hochschule für Musik in Berlin. He has studied with Robert Spano at the Aspen Music Festival and School for two consecutive summers as a conducting fellow, and is a recipient of the Bruno Walter Conducting Scholarship at the Cabrillo Festival for Contemporary Music.
Resident conductor of the Orchestre National de Lyon between September 2015 and December 2016, Antoine Glatard is returning to the ONL this season to conduct the new year concerts «Rêves de Cirque» (Dukas, Ravel, Saint-Saens, Berlioz, Debussy, Bizet …), the Opening Concert of the Philharmonic Foundation alongside Roger Muraro (Ravel, Beethoven) and supervises and conduct the youth orchestras of the ONL Academy.
He is also, since September 2016, the young associate conductor of the Opéra de Rouen Normandie. He performs with the orchestra different concerts («En Dansant» program, musical quizz around the Haydn symphonies, pedagogical creation at the Chapelle Corneille …) and is assistant for four operas (Cosi fan tutte, The Rake’s progress, Quartett by Francesconi and La Bohème).
In addition to these projects Antoine Glatard conducts Don Giovanni in Charleroi with the Opéra Royal de Wallonie in December 2016.
In May 2016 he conducted the musical tale Peter Pan (Olivier Penard) with the ONL, at the Auditorium in Lyon and in February he conducted the opera Milo & Maya by Matteo Franceschini in Liège with the Opéra Royal de Wallonie. He was also invited, in August 2015, to conduct La Bohème at the Verbier festival.
For the 2014-2015 season, Antoine Glatard as been re-invited by the Orchestre Symphonique et Lyrique de Nancy for a series of educational concerts with a Mendelssohn-Poulenc program. He made his debut with the Orchestre National de Lyon alongside Leonard Slatkin at the presentation concert of the season 2015-16; with the Orchestre Symphonique de Mulhouse with Marc Coppey as soloist (Martinu, Shostakovitch, Beethoven) at the Festival Les Musicales of Colmar and, in October 2014, with the Kielce Philharmonic Orchestra in Poland (Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn). More, he was the assistant conductor of the symphonic season of the Theatre Royal de la Monnaie. He has worked with Ludovic Morlot, Kazushi Ono, Härtmut Haenchen, Daniel Kawka, Michael Boder et Frank Beermann. Moreover, that same season, he assisted Patrick Davin for the reprise of Au Monde at the Opera Comique in Paris and for Manon at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège.
Concerned with contemporary composition ans passionate about opera, Antoine Glatard has already worked on two world premieres at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie: Au Monde, Phillippe Boesmans’ opera, based on a play and staged by Joel Pommerat and Benoît Mernier’s opera, La Dispute, adapted from Marivaux, staged by Karl-Ernst and Ursel Hermann. Before that he worked as assistant conductor for the Opéra National de Lorraine (Die Fledermaus) and the Monte-Carlo Opera (L’Enfant et les sortilèges and La Navarraise). He has collaborated with soloists such as Patricia Petibon, Annick Massis, Stéphane Degout, Stéphanie D’Oustrac, Jean-François Lapointe, Dominique Visse, Yanne Beuron…
In August 2013, Antoine Glatard won the second prize and the Special Jury Prize at the fourth edition of the International Conducting Competition Jeunesses Musicales Bucharest.
In previous seasons, he conducted the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège, the Orchestre Symphonique et Lyrique de Nancy, SymphoniaASSAI, the Tonhalle Orchestra, the Lucerne Festival String Orchestra, the Philharmonic Orchestra and the choir of Monte-Carlo Opera, the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra, the Jena Philharmonic Orchestra, the Croatian Chamber Orchestra, Orquesta de Cordoba, Royal Camerata, Duna Symphony Orchestra.
He worked and studied with conductors such as Bernard Haitink, David Zinman, Jorma Panula, Colin Metters, Nicolas Pasquet, Jin Wang, Patrick Davin, Manuel Hernandez Silva, Klaus Harp and Joerg-Peter Weigle.
Born in 1984, composer, pianist and clarinetist, Antoine Glatard dedicated to conducting at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels with Ronald Zollman and Patrick Davin. He received in 2012 his master’s degree with distinction.
Sebastian Perłowski graduated with honours from the Departments of Opera and Symphonic Conducting in the class of Professor Jan Wincent Hawel and Composition in the class of Assistant Professor Dariusz Janus in the Jazz Institute of the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice. He polished up his skills of the Jarvie Academy and under the tutelage of Jorma Panula, Jin Wang, Adrian Gnam and Yuri Simonov.
He won:
He was a semi – finalist at the International Conducting Competition “Lovro von Matačić” in Zagreb too.
Sebastian Perłowski was also nominated by music critics, journalists and the public for the awards “Best Conductor of the Krakow Opera last five years” and for one of the most prestigious – Nestle Salzburg Festival Conducting Award.
He has worked with many orchestras in Poland and on the world such Sinfonia Varsovia, Sinfonia Iuventus, NOSPR, Beethoven Academy Orchestra, The Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra or The George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra Bucharest and with world-renowned soloists such Julius Berger, Jose Cura among others. He has recorded for labels such ECM, DUX or Kameny. At the moment, he is leading the Composition in the Jazz Institute of the Karol Szymanowski Music Academy in Katowice. In 2016 he has been vice artistic director at Poznań Opera House. He gives concerts classic, jazz and musical in the country and abroad.
Andrei Ivanou is a graduate of the Belarusian State Academy of Music majoring in chorus conducting (class of associate professor Larisa Shimanovich , 2004) and in symphonic and opera conducting (class of associate professor Pyotr Vandilovski, 2008). From 2001to 2005, he studied academic singing (class of the Honoured Artist of the Republic of Belarus Mikhail Zdanevich)
In 2006, he undertook his internship at the Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus. And in 2007, he was appointed assistant to the principal conductor. In 2008, he was appointed conductor of the National Academic Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theatre of the Republic of Belarus. In 2011 he undertook his apprenticeship at the State Academic Mariinsky Theatre under the tutelage of Valery Gergiev.
Since October 2011 Donka Miteva is appointed Artistic Director and Conductor of Collegium Musicum Berlin and gave her Debut at the Berlin Philharmonic Hall in 2012.
In 2011 she was awarded the special Prize for her artistic achievments by the Music and Theatre friends´society Münster.
Between 2007 and 2011 Donka Miteva was a Conductor and Choir Director at the State Opera in Münster, Germany with productions of „Tristan and Isolde“, „Turandot“ , “Rigoletto”, “Aida”, “Parsifal” ,“Boris Godunow”, “Nabucco” etc.
She worked with the Münster Symphony Orchestra, Sonderborg Symphony, Enescu Philharmonie, Sofia Festival Orchestra, Nord Czech Philharmonic, Savaria Symphony Orchestra, Burgas Opera,Orquestra do Algarve a.o.
Donka Miteva was awarded scholarships from the Richard Wagner Society, the Accademia Musicale Chigiana, the European Academy Montepulciano and the Noel Minet Foundation.
Donka Miteva received her Diplom Degree in Orchestra Conducting from the Robert Schumann Hochschule in Düsseldorf and her Master Degree in Choral conducting from the State Academy of Music in Sofia. She also studied at Accademia Chigiana with Maestro Gianluigi Gelmetti, Kenneth Keisler, Jorma Panula and Benjamin Zander.
Lev Ivanov was one of the five to receive prizes and special recognition at the Jeunesses Musicales Bucharest International Conducting Competition 2013 where he conducted George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra. He was awarded the Special Mention prize by the jury presided over by Jorma Panula from among the fifty international contestants. Dr. Ivanov is also the recipient of the George and Geraldine Swensen Watkins Endowment for Excellence in the Arts and a prize-winner of the Vorzel and Guitaralia international ensemble competitions in Ukraine and Poland.
Dr. Ivanov is in his third year of being the music director of Illinois Wesleyan Symphony Orchestra. His vision of artistic excellence facilitated projects and collaborations with other forms of the arts including use of electronic music, visual aids and computer technology in an orchestral setting. His creative approach to programming provides for skillful execution of traditional repertoire alongside twenty first-century orchestral music. Passionate about diversity and making music accessible to all, Dr. Ivanov continues reaching out to new audiences. An advocate for engaging children in the arts, he conducted Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel for over 1,000 school children in November, 2014, and will conduct Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro for local students in fall, 2016. He has been the recipient of both the Illinois Prairie Community Foundation Grant and the Harmon Arts Grant to continue to bring orchestral music and opera to audiences in Central Illinois.
Recent appearances include two seasons of being the guest conductor for the Prairie Fire Opera Theater, guest conductor of the Fifth House Ensemble, guest conductor for the Illinois Chamber Music Festival Orchestra, music director of Sustainable Symphony, guest conductor for the Park City Chamber Music Festival Orchestra, assistant conductor of the Arizona State University Symphony Orchestra and Lyric Opera Theater. For three consecutive seasons, Dr. Ivanov was invited to work with the Park City Summer Orchestra Festival, where he conducted the Festival Orchestra and members of the Utah Symphony in a series of performances.
In the summer of 2008, Dr. Ivanov was invited to participate in St. Magnus Festival in Scotland directed by Sir. Peter Maxwell Davies, and to study with Martyn Brabbins and Charles Peebles at the prestigious Orkney Conducting Course, where he worked with Scottish Chamber Orchestra.
Dr. Ivanov studied under Roman Kofman, Niku Mitznei, Martyn Brabbins, Kory Katseanes, William Reber and Timothy Russell. Additionally he has taken masterclasses with Thomas Cockrell, Keith Lockhart and Carl St. Clair.
Dr. Ivanov received degrees in music performance and conducting from Tchaikovsky National Academy of Music (Kyiv, Ukraine), Brigham Young University and Arizona State University.
