Oboe final – the prizewinners are announced

(cs) After three selection tests, this year's Markneukirchen International Instrumental Competition for oboe reached its climax with the final on Friday, 10 May 2024. The three finalists, Seongye Ma (South Korea), Raquel Pérez-Juana Rodríguez (Spain) and João Silva (Portugal), appeared before the international jury one last time and demonstrated their exceptional skills with Richard Strauss' Concerto in D major for oboe and small orchestra. The participants were accompanied by the Vogtland Philharmonic Orchestra Greiz/Reichenbach under the direction of Dorian Keilhack.

After a jury deliberation, the result was announced at the end of the evening by the president, Prof. Christian Lampert:

1st prize winner ................................................ Raquel Pérez-Juana Rodríguez (Spain)
2nd prize winner ................................................ João Silva (Portugal)
3rd prize winner ............................................ Seongye Ma (South Korea)

The top three winners will perform a selection of works from the competition rounds at the prizewinners' concert on Saturday, 11 May 2024. The first prize winner, Raquel Pérez-Juana Rodríguez, will once again perform the work from the final round, Concerto in D major for oboe and small orchestra by Richard Strauss. The runner-up, João Silva, will perform the work commissioned by this year's oboe competition, ‘Point of no return for oboe solo’ by Leipzig composer Bernd Franke from the second round of the competition. Seongye Ma, the third prizewinner, will present Clara Schumann's ‘Three Romances op. 22’ from the first round of the competition. Tickets for the prizewinners' concert are available at the box office for 18,- or 15,- Euro.

The prizewinners in the category oboe

Raquel Pérez-Juana Rodríguez (Spain), born 20 November 1999

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 at the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media with Professor Kai Frömbgen.

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 Silva (Portugal), born 27.10.1995

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 have given him the opportunity to perform 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, the Juilliard Chamber Orchestra and the Sota Hyderabad Ensemble.

Seongye Ma (South Korea), born 31.12.1998

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 Hanover, HR, the Bielefeld Philharmonic and Ensemble Musik Fabrik.

Seongye Ma is a prizewinner of the IDRS Competition in Granada, an internal music academy competition in Cologne and was awarded the audience prize in the Virtual Oboe Competition.