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Oboe
- 1st prizewinner Raquel Pérez-Juana Rodríguez Spain
- 2nd prizewinner João Silva Portugal
- 3rd prizewinner Seongye Ma South Korea
Raquel Pérez-Juana was born in Toledo, Spain, in 1999. She studied at the Conservatorio Superior de Musica in Madrid with Professor Juan Carlos Baguena and for a year at the Barenboim-Said Academy in Seville with Professors José Luis Garcia Vergara and Ramón Ortega Quero. She is currently studying for a Master's degree with Professor Kai Frömbgen at the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media.
Raquel Pérez-Juana Rodríguez is a member of the EUYO, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival and JONDE. She also works with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Barcelona, the Folkwang Chamber Orchestra Essen, the Hanover Chamber Orchestra and the Budapest Festival Orchestra.
She has taken part in masterclasses with renowned oboists such as Stefan Schilli, Domenico Orlando, Hélenè Devilleneuve, Lucas Macías and Robert Silla, to name but a few.
In 2021, she made her debut as a soloist with the Concerto for Oboe and Small Orchestra by Richard Strauss at the Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid with the Orchestra of the Real Conservatorio de Música de Madrid.
In the same year, she was awarded the Alexander von Humboldt Scholarship for students in Germany. She has been the solo oboist at the Hanover State Opera since 2022.
João Miguel Moreira da Silva (Portugal) received his first oboe lessons at the age of 9. Thanks to his father and sister, who are both clarinettists, music has always been present in his family. João studied with Oscar Viana and Luis Marques at the Music Conservatory in Lisbon and later completed his Bachelor's degree in Cologne at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz in the class of Christian Wetzel.
After this time in Germany, he moved to Switzerland, where he studied for a year in Lausanne at the Haute École de Musique de Lausanne in the class of Jean-Louis Capezzali.
He is currently a master student in Francois Leleux's class at the Munich University of Music and Theatre. João has won prizes at several competitions in Portugal, Italy and Poland. Some of these competitions gave him the opportunity to play as a soloist with orchestras such as the Orquestra Gulbenkian, the Hong Kong Sinfonietta, the Orquestra Sinfonieta de Braga, the Chieri Sinfonietta, the Zabrze Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orquestra Clássica da Madeira, the Orquestra Clássica do Sul, the Neues Rheinisches Kammerorchester and the Juilliard Chamber Orchestra as well as the Sota Hyderabad Ensemble.
Seongye Ma, born in Seoul in 1998, studied oboe with Christian Wetzel at the Cologne University of Music and Dance from 2017 to 2022. Since October 2022, she has been studying with Kai Frömbgen at the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media.
In 2022 she was an academy member of the SWR Symphony Orchestra and the Lucerne Festival. She was also a member of the HR Symphony Orchestra in the 2022/2023 season.
Seongye Ma has performed as a guest musician with the WDR Symphony Orchestra, NDR Hannover, HR, the Bielefeld Philharmonic and Ensemble Musik Fabrik.
Seongye Ma is a prizewinner of the IDRS Competition in Granada, the internal music academy competition in Cologne and won the audience prize in the Virtual Oboe Competition. -
Trombone
- 1st prizewinner Botond Drahos Hungary
- 2nd prizewinner Tim Ouwejan Netherlands
- 3rd prizewinner Gonçalo Nova Portugal
Botond Drahos was born in 2003 in Kaposvár, Hungary. He started playing the trombone at the age of nine.
Botond has already taken part in many competitions, both in Hungary and abroad, where he has achieved great success. As a student at the Hanover University of Music, he received a special prize at the Michel Becquet International Trombone Competition and the Prague Spring International Music Competition in 2023. He also won 1st prize at the international trombone competition ‘Citta di Porcia’, which took place in Pordenone/Italy in 2023.
Since 2022, he has been studying at the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media in the trombone class of Professor Jonas Bylund and Tomer Maschkowski.
Botond gained his first orchestral experience with the Verbier Festival Junior Orchestra from 2019 to 2021, the Royal Concertgebouworkest Young from 2020 to 2021 and the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra since 2019.
Tim Ouwejan, born on 29 April 2000 in Arnhem, Netherlands, is currently principal trombonist with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. In the 2021/2022 season he was an academist of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Tim has just completed his bachelor's degree with honours at the Amsterdam Conservatory and is currently completing his master's degree there with Jörgen van Rijen, Pierre Volders and Remko de Jager. Tim is co-founder of the Nymphéas trombone quartet, which he founded together with three friends and colleagues from the same conservatory. He has won prizes at several competitions.
Gonçalo Nova, 20 years old, is the winner of 1st prize at the Prague Spring International Music Competition (2023). He has also won several competitions since 2013, notably first prize in the trombone category at the ‘Prémio Jovens Músicos 2023 RTP - Antena 2’, the largest classical music competition in Portugal, and first prize at the ‘Gilberto Gagliardi Competition’ (2022) of the International Trombone Association in the USA, first prize at the International Music Competition ‘Grands Artistes - Les Musicales du Centre’ (2019) in France and many others.
Born in Porto, Portugal, Gonçalo Nova began his music studies in trombone at the age of six at the ‘Conservatório de Música do Porto’ with Prof. Joaquim Oliveira, where he later completed his major in music with top marks. Since 2021, he has been studying for a bachelor's degree in trombone with Prof. Fabrice Millischer at the Freiburg University of Music.
In terms of orchestral work, he was 1st trombonist with the Stuttgart State Orchestra in the 2022/2023 season and has recently worked with the Munich Philharmonic and the Freiburg Philharmonic as a guest 1st trombonist. He works as a guest with orchestras and ensembles such as the ‘Orquestra de Extremadura’ in Spain. He is currently also a member of the EBE trombone ensemble.
As a soloist, he has had the opportunity to perform with the Munich Chamber Orchestra, the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, the Gulbenkian Orchestra and the ‘Orquestra do Norte’. In March 2024 he gave a live solo concert for RTP - Antena 2, the largest classical music radio station in Portugal, and in April 2024 for the Banatul Philharmonic Orchestra in Timisoara.
He had the opportunity to work with great trombonists and musicians such as Joseph Alessi, Filipe Alves, Stefan Schulz, Christopher Houlding, Ben van Dijk, Jeremy Wilson and Jean-Philippe Navrez.
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Double bass
- 1st prize winner Jose Trigo Portugal
- 2nd prize winner Hong Yiu Thomas Lai Hong Kong
- 3rd prize winner Moritz Tunn Germany
José Trigo was born into a musical family and began learning the double bass with Alexandre Samardjiev at the age of 11. After graduating from high school, he enrolled at the State University of Music and Performing Arts in Mannheim, where he studied with Petru Iuga and graduated with a Bachelor's degree in 2019.
He was also inspired by masterclasses with Janne Saksala, Ödön Rácz, Stanislav Anischenko, Gunars Upatnieks, Philipp Stubenrauch and Franco Petracchi.
During his studies, he already gained orchestral experience as a member of the European Union Youth Orchestra, the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra and as a guest in the Orquestra Gulbenkian, the Georgian Chamber Orchestra Ingolstadt and the Württemberg Chamber Orchestra Heilbronn. In the 2018/19 season, he took part in the Orchestra Academy of the WDR Symphony Orchestra in Cologne and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. He is also a 1st prize winner at several competitions such as the Eixo Atlantico, Vasco Barbosa, Galicia Graves International Competition and Serge Koussevitzky International Competition, having already won 2nd prize at the VII Bottesini International Competition and 2nd prize at the J. M. Sperger Competition.
José Trigo has been a member of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra since April 2019 and completed his master's degree with Dorin Marc at the Nuremberg University of Music in 2022.
Thomas Hong Yiu Lai began his musical training on the piano at the age of 4. From 2013 to 2019, he studied double bass at the
Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts in the class of Božo Paradžik. From 2019 to 2020, he studied with Duncan McTier at the Zurich University of the Arts. From 2020 to 2022 he studied at the Nuremberg University of Music in the class of Dorin Marc. Since 2022 he has been studying at the Detmold University of Music in the class of Stanislav Anischenko. He received further inspiration at masterclasses from Janne Saksala and Jakub Fortuna, among others.
As a young double bass player, he has won prizes in several competitions such as the ISB Double Bass Competition Age 14 And Under Division (USA).He also regularly performs as an orchestral musician. In 2016/17, he was principal bass with the Göttingen Symphony Orchestra on a temporary contract. Temporary work has taken him to the Philharmonia Zurich and the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, among others. From 2019 to 2021 he was an academist with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra. He is currently coordinating principal bass of the NDR Radiophilharmonie.
Moritz Magnus Tunn was born in Berlin in 1999. He received cello lessons at the age of four and later learned to play the piano. At the age of eleven, he switched to the double bass and was initially taught by Alexander Adelmann. During this time, Moritz Tunn won prizes at the national Jugend musiziert competition and the Michelangelo Music Competition and gained his first orchestral experience with the Georg-Friedrich-Händel Gymnasium youth symphony orchestra, the Deutsche Streicherphilharmonie and the state and national youth orchestras.
After graduating from high school in 2017, he began his artistic studies in the class of Prof. Frithjof-Martin Grabner at the Leipzig University of Music and Performing Arts in the fall of the same year. Since the 2018/19 winter semester, he has been enrolled as a student at the Nuremberg University of Music, where he is taught by Prof. Dorin Marc and Prof. Michail-Pavlos Semsis.
He is currently a member of the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie and the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester. Many concert tours have taken him through Germany as well as to Brazil, Taiwan, Russia, Denmark, Austria, France and Italy.
Moritz Tunn has also performed as a soloist with the Haydn Chamber Orchestra at the Gewandhaus Leipzig, where he played G. Bottesini's Concerto in B minor.
He has gained orchestral experience with the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Württemberg Chamber Orchestra Heilbronn, the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden and the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, among others. Since April 2022, Moritz Tunn has been an academy member of the Karajan Academy of the Berliner Philharmoniker and is taught by Matthew McDonald. He is a prizewinner of the International Johann Matthias Sperger Competition for Double Bass 2022.
Moritz Tunn is supported by the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes. -
Violoncello
- 1st prize winner Vilem Vlcek Czech republic
- 2nd prize winner Gustaw Bafeltowski Poland
- 3rd prize winner Tzu-Shao Chao Taiwan
Vilem Vlcek received his first lessons from Prof. Martin Skampa at the age of 6 and was accepted into Martin and Mirko Skampa's class at the Prague Music High School in 2010. Since 2018 he has been studying at the Basel Music Academy in the class of Danjulo Ishizaka. In addition to his studies, he has taken part in various masterclasses, including with Yo-Yo Ma, Frans Helmerson, Leonidas Kavakos, Steven Isserlis, Richard Aaron and Alisa Weilerstein.
Vilem is a winner of various national and international competitions, including the Cello Competition in Liezen (first prize), Talents for Europe (first prize), Heran Cello Competition (first prize), Competition of Czech Conservatories (winner), Concertino Praga (laureate and EMCY prize), Jan Vychytil Cello Competition (winner), the Bohuslav Martinu Competition (first prize) and currently in 2022 the first prize of the Rahn Music Prize. As a member of the Kukal Quartet he received a third prize at the Prague Spring Competition 2021.
As a soloist, Vilem has performed with many renowned orchestras, such as the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, the Basel Chamber Orchestra, the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, the Prague Symphony Orchestra, the Kaunas Symphony Orchestra, the North Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, the Zielona Gora Philharmonic Orchestra, the Pilsen Philharmonic Orchestra, the Württemberg Philharmonic Orchestra Reutlingen and others.
He has worked with conductors such as Jiri Belohlavek, Petr Altrichter, Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt, Jiri Rozen, Joonas Pitkänen and Nicolas Ellis, which has taken him to concert halls such as the Great Hall of the Elbphilharmonie, the Chamber Music Hall of the Berlin Philharmonie, the Dvořák Hall of the Rudolfinum and the Tonhalle Zurich.Gustaw Bafeltowski began his musical education at the age of 6 at a music school in Warsaw. From the early years he had the opportunity to experience music in many different forms by playing in various chamber music and orchestral ensembles. In his later education, his musicality was strongly influenced by Julius Berger, Marcin Zdunik, Andrzej Bauer, Danjulo Ishizaka and Steven Doane. He was awarded prizes at national and international competitions, including such important ones as the International Dotzauer Competition in Dresden, the International Wilkomirski Competition in Poznan and the International Bogdan Warchal Competition "Talents for Europe" in Dolny Kubin. In addition to participating in competitions, Gustaw has had the opportunity to perform at music festivals in Poland, Germany, Slovakia, Italy and China. He is part of Jacob Shaw's Scandinavian Cello School, whose support he has received since 2018. He is currently continuing his musical education at the Robert Schumann Hochschule under the direction of Pieter Wispelwey.
The young cellist Tzu-Shao Chao began learning the cello at the age of four. He completed his bachelor's degree at the Cologne University of Music and Dance with Prof. Maria Kliegel. He is currently studying at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich with Prof. Wen-Sinn Yang.
He has won awards at various international competitions. In 2020, he was a finalist at the Anna Kull Competition in Graz and at the Pablo Casals International Awards for Young Cellists, where he also achieved an "honorable mention". He received the " Grand Prix '' at national level at the World Vision music contest and was a prizewinner at the International Concerto Competition. In June 2019, he took part in a competition organized by the Lions Club Cologne for a scholarship at the HfMT Cologne and won first prize. He has also been a scholarship holder of the Ministry of Culture in Taiwan since 2018.
Tzu-Shao Chao frequently performs in concerts. In summer 2020, for example, he took on the solo part in the Haydn concertos in D major and C major with the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra and the Camerata Hamburg. He has taken part in numerous masterclasses with famous cellists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, Maria Kliegel, Arto Noras, Alexander Rudin, Phillipe Muller, Marc Coppey, Jens-Peter Maintz, Wen-Sinn Yang, Sebastian Klinger, Frans Helmerson, Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt and Maximilian Hornung. -
Horn
- 1st prize winner Achille Fait Italy
- 2nd prize winner Felipe Santos Freitas da Silva Brazil
- 3rd prize winner Damien Muller Luxembourg/France
Achille Fait was born in Rovereto (Italy) in December 1998 and began his horn studies at the age of 13. He is currently studying at the University of Music in Weimar with Professors Jörg Brückner, Maria Teiwes and Marc Gruber. He has won prizes at numerous international competitions in Italy and abroad.
On various occasions he has performed with different orchestras and chamber music formations, including the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra, the European Union Youth Orchestra, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala in Milan.
In April 2022, he won the audition for the academy at the Staatskapelle Berlin.Felipe Freitas began his horn studies at the age of 9 with Professor Ismael de Oliveira Jr. at the "Villa-Lobos and the Children Project" (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil).
From 2015 to 2019 he was a student of Professor Philip Doyle at the UFRJ (Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro). In 2020, he became a bachelor's student of Professor Will Sanders at the Karlsruhe University of Music, who had already been mentoring him at the annual German-Brazilian Festival since 2013. In 2015, Felipe Freitas took first place in the II MB Competition for Young Hornists. One year later, he won the IV. National Competition for Young Soloists, where he performed as a soloist with the Goiás Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2017, he achieved second place in the "Frizelle Soloist Competition" during the 49th International Horn Symposium. He won the IV. MB Competition for Young Hornists in 2018 and was awarded a scholarship at the OSESP Academy, followed by another one-month scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Felipe Freitas reached the semifinals of the International Mozart Competition in Salzburg 2020 and the 2nd round of the ARD Music Competition 2021. In the same year, he won the 31st "Concorso Internazionale Citta di Porcia" in Italy and, as a member of the Karlbrass Brass Quintet, 2nd prize at the Jeju Competition in Korea. Among the orchestras in which he has performed are the Rotterdams Philharmonisch Orkest, the orchestra of the "Frischluft und Musik Ortenau" festival, the Petrobras Symphony Orchestra, the UFRJ Symphony Orchestra, the São Paulo State Orchestra and the São Paulo Youth State Orchestra.Damien Muller began playing the horn in 2005 with his first teacher, Mr. Steve Boehm. From September 2015, he was a student of Patrick Coljon at the Music Conservatory of the City of Luxembourg, where he had already taken chamber music courses. In 2012, Damien won the "Petites Mains Symphoniques" competition in Paris. A year later, he was awarded the "1ère Division" at the UGDA (Union Grand-Duc Adolphe) competition in Luxembourg with the
"Excellent", the gold medal and the SACEM prize. In 2014, he again won first prize at the "Petites Mains Symphoniques" competition in Paris.
In 2020, he completed his training at the conservatory in Luxembourg with a "Diplôme supérieur" degree. Since September 2018, Damien has been studying in the class of Prof. Jörg Brückner at the
Franz Liszt University of Music in Weimar.
Damien has also gained a wealth of orchestral experience: he was a member of the European Union Youth Orchestra in summer 2017 and from 2019 to 2021, a member of the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie since 2018, an intern at the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg from 2019 to 2021 and an academy member of the Erfurt Philharmonic Orchestra since January 2022. Temporary engagements have taken him to the Staatskapelle Weimar and Theater Chemnitz.
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Tuba
- 1st prize winner Florian Wielgosik France
- 2nd prize winner Richárd Bence Masa Hungary
- 3rd prize winner Igor Martinez Venezuela
Florian Wielgosik studied at the Karlsruhe University of Music with Dirk Hirthe, at the CNSM in Paris with Gérard Buquet and André GiIbert and at the CRR of Amiens Métropole in tuba and chamber music with François Thuillier.
Florian Wielgosik has been principal tuba of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo since January 2015. Prior to this appointment, he had already gained orchestral experience with the Franco-German Philharmonic Orchestra, the French Youth Orchestra, the Philharmonique de Marseille Orchestra, the Intercontemporary Ensemble, the Picardy Orchestra, the Paris Brass Band and the Copper Orchestra of Amiens.
In addition to his orchestral activities, Florian Wielgosik regularly teaches. At the request of Gérard Buquet, he gave a master class at the CNSMDP, held a workshop on breathing at the Rainier III Academy in Monte Carlo, taught at the summer course "Cuivre Attitude" and substituted at the conservatories of Nice, Antibes and Amiens.
Florian Wielgosik can already look back on numerous competition successes, including first prizes at the "Jeju International Brass & Percussion Competition" in South Korea and the international "ConcoursTubaTours" Prestige Class 2017. In July 2019, he took part in the Tchaikovsky Competition in Russia.
His CD "HOME" was released under the Klarthe label.
Richárd Bence Masa began his musical education at the Vántus István Music High School in Szeged and has been continuing it at the University of Music in Karlsruhe since 2018. He also took part in masterclasses with Dirk Hirthe and Roland Szentpáli.
Richárd Bence Masa has already won several first prizes at international competitions. These include the 27th Leoš Janáček Tuba Competition in Brno, the 41st International Tuba Competition in Debrecen and the 14th International Tuba Competition in Brno. He also received a first prize at the 12th National Tuba Competition in Budapest.Igor Martinez began his musical training in Jose Antonio Abreu's "el Sistema" program. At the age of 11, he gained his first experience in the children's choir at the Propatria School of "el Sistema" before switching to the tuba a few weeks later. As a soloist, he performed the Venezuelan premiere of Frank Bencriscutto's Tuba Concertino (2011) and the South American premiere of the tuba concerto "BANDSTERIX & TUBELIX" for tuba and wind orchestra by Spanish composer Ferrer Ferran under his direction (2012). This version is the first ever to be recorded and released on CD. He also played the Concerto for Bass Tuba by R.V. Williams with the Canadian-Venezuelan conductor David Cubek (2018) and his Concerto for Brass Trio and Symphony Orchestra with the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela and the Bolivar Brass Trio under the direction of Gonzalo Hidalgo (2018). For six years Igor Martinez was solo tuba player and director of the Simon Bolivar Youth Symphony Band, where he participated in various tours in Venezuela, Colombia and Europe and can also be heard as solo tuba player on the debut album "Mambos y Fanfarrias" (2012) under the direction of Thomas Clamor. In 2014 he won the audition for the position of principal tuba with the Municipal Symphony Orchestra of Caracas under the direction of Rodolfo Saglimbeni before joining the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela a year later and beginning to tour the world under the direction of Gustavo Dudamel. He studied tuba and composition at the Simon Bolivar Music Conservatory. He is currently completing his Master's degree in Performance at the Haute Ecole de Musique in Geneva (Switzerland) with Fabien Wallerand and was recently awarded 2nd prize at the Concours Tuba Paris - Prestige category.
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.