15th International Robert Schumann Competition, Zwickau, 5-15 June 2008

History of the International Robert Schumann Competition for Piano and Vocals

The international Robert Schumann Competition for piano and Vocals, which nowadays is besides the Munich ARD Competition and the Leipzig Bach Competition, one of the most prestigious music competitions, was launched in the Schumann anniversary year of 1956, so exactly 50 years ago. Shortly after being founded, this competition was becoming member of the World Federation of Music Competitios in Geneva. The first two competitions took place in 1956 and 1960 (for this one time it was called for vocals and string quartet) in Berlin. In 1963, the competition was moved to Schumann’s place of birth, Zwickau, where it was meanwhile 14 times (2004) successfully conducted. The growing amount of participants and the broad international perception give evidence of the attractiveness of this music event, which also highly appreciated in the city and region of Zwickau, as well as in Saxony. The international experts jury of the events in 2000, 2004 and 2008 were led by Klaus Hellwig (piano) and Edith Wiens (vocals); head of this competition was the long-time director of the Robert Schumann House, Dr. Gerd Nauhaus.

The venues in the Robert Schumann city are theatre Plauen-Zwickau, the venerable Gewandhaus and the beautiful Art Nouveau concert hall "Neue Welt". Both competitive subjects produced several nowadays internationally renowned artists, such as the pianists Annrerose Schmidt, Peter Rösel, Eliso Virsaladze, Dezsö Ránki, Pavel Egorov, Emma Tachmizjan, Yves Henry, Eric Le Sage, Mikhail Mordvinov, Kiai Nara and Akiko Yamamoto, the singers Sylvia Geszty, Evgeni Isakov, Ruben Lisician, Siegfried Lorenz, Mitsuko Shirai, Lászlo Polgár, Sergej Lejferkus, Edith Wiens, Matthias Goerne, Locky Chung, Bodil Arnesen, Annette Dasch, Christa Mayer and Colin Balzer. Some oft hem were meanwhile even jurors in Zwickau. (Gerd Nauhaus)

Jury Piano 2008:
Klaus Hellwig, Berlin (chairman)
Jozef De Beenhouwer, Antwerpen
Paolo Bordoni, Mailand
Willem Brons, Arnheim
Ian Hobson, Urbana/Illinois
Andrej Jasinski, Katowice
Renna Kellaway, Manchester
Roland Keller, Wien
Michael Struck, Kiel
Erik T. Tawaststjerna, Helsinki
Eisso Wirssaladze, München

Jury secretary: 
Dagmar Mewes, Zwickau


Jury Vocals 2008:
Edith Wiens, München (chairman)
Margo Garrett, New York
Julia Hamari, Stuttgart
Albrecht Hofmann, Zwickau
Edith Mathis, Wien
Thomas Moser, Wien
Michael Oehme, Leipzig
László Polgár, Zürich
Josef Protschka, Köln
Peter Schreier, Dresden

Jury secretary: 
Kerstin Wünsch, Zwickau

Fig. 1: 2008-Winners’ concert in the hall "Neue Welt" with Mizuka Kano (First prize piano) and the Philharmonic Orchestra of Plauen-Zwickau, conduction GMD Georg Christoph Sandmann
© Atelier Lorenz, Zwickau