Three finalists in the category oboe

Three candidates from Portugal, Spain and South Korea qualified for the final in the oboe category. At the end of the third selection test, they were the best of the six candidates.

•  Seong Ye Ma (South Korea)
•  Raquel Pérez-Juana Rodríguez (Spain)
•  João Miguel Silva (Portugal)

On Friday, 10 May 2024 from 7 p.m. in the Markneukirchen Music Hall, they will once again face the seven-member international jury in the final round and compete for the prizes. They will then demonstrate their exceptional skills with Richard Strauss' Concerto in D major for oboe and small orchestra. They will be accompanied by the Vogtland Philharmonic Orchestra Greiz/Reichenbach under the direction of Dorian Keilhack.
Tickets can be purchased at the box office for 5 euros.
In addition to the experienced ladies and gentlemen of the international jury, the audience is also invited to vote for their favourite in the final rounds. The audience prize winner will then be announced at the prizewinners' concert on Saturday, 11 May 2024 at 7 p.m. in the Markneukirchen Music Hall and, depending on the instrument (oboe or trombone), will receive a non-cash prize made by a Vogtland musical instrument maker worth up to 2,500 euros. The choice is between an ‘Oscar Adler’ model 100 oboe (developed for the needs of children), a case set for oboe/English horn, a double moulded case for oboe/English horn, an Eb alto trombone or a mouthpiece set for trombone (12 pieces).

Seon Ma
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, an internal music academy competition in Cologne and was awarded the audience prize in the Virtual Oboe Competition.

Raquel Pérez-Juana Rodríguez
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. Since 2022 she has been the solo oboist at the Hanover State Opera.

João Silva
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.