Final round for horn

Zurück zur Liste

(cs) On Friday, 13 May 2022, this year's International Instrumental Competition Markneukirchen in the subject horn reached its climax. No less than four candidates emerged as best-placed from the three preliminary rounds and presented themselves to the jury and the audience in the evening in the Musikhalle Markneukirchen. The four finalists, Achille Fait (Italy), Thomas Adrian Mittler (Germany), Damien Muller (Luxembourg/France) and Felipe Santos Freitas da Silva (Brazil), once again demonstrated their extraordinary skills with the Concerto for horn op. 150 by York Bowen. The participants were accompanied by the Clara-Schumann-Philharmoniker Plauen-Zwickau under the direction of GMD Leo Siberski.
After a jury deliberation, the result was announced at the end of the evening by the president Prof. Christian Lampert:

1st prize winner ................................................ Achille Fait (Italy)
2nd prize winner ................................................ Felipe Santos Freitas da Silva (Brazil)
3rd prize winner ................................................ Damien Muller (Luxembourg/France)

The three first prize winners will perform a selection of the works from the rounds of the competition at the prize winners' concert on Saturday 14 May 2022. The first prize-winner, Achille Fait, will perform the work of the final round, York Bowen's Concerto for horn op. 150. The runner-up, Felipe Santos Freitas da Silva, will perform Eugene Bozza, Sur les Cimes from the first round. Damien Muller, as third prize-winner, will present the commissioned work for horn by Roland Szentpali, HO(ye)RN for solo horn, also from the first selection competition. Tickets for the prize-winners' concert are available at the box office for 12 euros.

The prize winners in the horn category

Achille Fait (Italy), born 20.12.1998

He was born in December 1998 in Rovereto (Italy) and began his horn studies at the age of 13. He’s currently studying in Weimar at the Hochschule für Musik with Professors Jörg Brückner, Maria Teiwes and Marc Gruber. He won many international competitions in Italy and abroad.
On various occasions he has performed with several orchestras and chamber music formations including the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester, the European Union Youth Orchestra, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and with the Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala in Milano.
In april 2022 he won the audition for Academy at the Staatskapelle Berlin.

Felipe Santos Freitas da Silva (Brazil), born 03.08.2001

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 with Professor Philip Doyle at the UFRJ (Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro) School of Music. In 2020 he became a Bachelor student with Professor Will Sanders at the Karlsruhe University of Music, who had already mentored him at the annual German-Brazilian Festival since 2013. In 2015
Felipe Freitas took first place in the II MB competition for young horn players. One year later he won the IV. National Competition for Young Soloists, where he performed as 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 Youth Hornists in 2018 and received 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 in 2020 and the 2nd round of the ARD Music Competition in 2021. In the same year, he won the 31st "Concorso Internazionale Citta di Porcia" in Italy as well as 2nd prize at the Jeju Competition in Korea as a member of the Karlbrass Brass Quintet. Among the orchestras in which he has performed are the Rotterdams Philharmonisch Orkest, the orchestra of the festival "Frischluft und Musik Ortenau", the Petrobras Symphony Orchestra, the UFRJ Symphony Orchestra, the São Paulo State Orchestra and the São Paulo State Youth Orchestra.

Damien Muller (Luxembourg/France), born 25.03.1999
Damien Muller began playing the horn in 2005 with his first teacher, Mr Steve Boehm. From September 2015 he was a pupil of Patrick Coljon at the Conservatory of Music of the City of Luxembourg, where he had already taken chamber music courses. In 2012, Damien won the "Petites Mains Symphoniques" competition in Paris. One year later, he was awarded the "Excellent" prize in the "1ère Division" of the UGDA (Union Grand-Duc Adolphe) competition in Luxembourg.
Excellent", the Gold Medal and the SACEM Prize. In 2014 he was again first prize winner at the "Petites Mains Symphoniques" competition in Paris.
In 2020, he completed his training at the Conservatoire in Luxembourg with the degree "Diplôme supérieur". Since September 2018, Damien has been studying in the class of Prof. Jörg Brückner at the Franz Liszt University of Music in Weimar. In addition, Damien gained numerous orchestral experiences: he was a member of the European Union Youth Orchestra in the summer of 2017 and from 2019 to 2021, a member of the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie since 2018, an intern with the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg from 2019 to 2021 and an academist with the Philharmonisches Orchester Erfurt since January 2022. Engagements as a substitute have taken him to the Staatskapelle Weimar and the Chemnitz Theatre.