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The Markneukirchen International Instrumental Competition is held annually, alternating between string and wind instruments (two instruments each) and serves to promote young instrumentalists. It is held at a high artistic level and is regarded by experts as an important event. Top places almost always mean a leap into the international arena for the participants and are seen as a seal of quality.
The great response is not least due to the unique flair, characterized by a special profile and special appeal, the interrelationship between craftsmanship and artistic activity. New contacts are created time and again between those who have mastered and can play their instrument and the Markneukirchen musical instrument makers who masterfully build these instruments with artistic skill. Particularly intensive encounters during the competition are possible at the exhibitions and, of course, during discussions directly in the numerous workshops of the master musical instrument makers.

The competition has gained international recognition by attracting leading and world-renowned personalities as competition presidents such as Professor Manfred Scherzer (strings, 1985-2003), Professor Peter Damm, Dresden (wind instruments, 1986-2018), Professor Julius Berger, Augsburg (strings, 2003-2018 and since 2021), Professor Thomas Selditz (strings, 2018-2021) and Professor Christian Lampert (wind instruments, since 2018) as presidents of the competition and numerous renowned music teachers and artists for the international jury.
The world-famous conductor and long-time Gewandhaus conductor Professor Kurt Masur took on the honorary role of patron of the Markneukirchen International Instrumental Competition in 2005. After his death, the renowned conductor Christian Thielemann became patron of the 2016 competition. Together with him, the Deputy President of the Bundestag Yvonne Magwas and the Saxon Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer held this office, after Dr. Eva-Maria Stange, Saxon Minister of State for Science and Art, the Minister of State to the Federal Chancellor and Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, Professor Monika Grütters, the Saxon Prime Minister Stanislaw Tillich and the Saxon Minister of State for Science and Art Professor Sabine von Schorlemer had already held the patronage.

History
Today's Markneukirchen International Instrumental Competition has its roots in a violin competition that was first held in 1950 at the suggestion of Markneukirchen conductor, composer and music teacher Günter Wendel.The winners of the very first competition were delighted to receive Markneukirchen instruments (a master violin and a master bow) as prizes.Although the competition was initially only held on one evening with just three participants, it quickly grew and was extended to two days just two years later and a soloist category for subjects other than violin and an exhibition of musical instruments were added. The violin competition was held for the last time in 1956, but the idea of a music competition inviting young musicians to the town of musical instrument makers was taken up again nine years later. The violin competition in 1966 laid the foundation for the series of music competitions in Markneukirchen that continues to this day.
The aims then, as now, were to promote young musicians, to provide an opportunity for exchange between musicians and musical instrument makers and to draw worldwide attention to the living tradition of musical instrument making in Markneukirchen.As early as 1968, the French horn was added to the competition program, and in 1970 the competition was announced for two instruments for the first time (between 1972 and 1990, up to four subjects per year in some cases) and soon also for instruments that had previously received little international attention as soloists, such as the double bass (from 1975) and tuba (from 1980).
With sometimes more than 200 entries per year from around 30 countries around the world and a very high musical standard, the competition today has an outstanding international position, which was confirmed by its inclusion in the World Federation of International Music Competitions in 1993.