The Bechstein grand piano by Franz Liszt, which is located in the Liszt House in Weimar, is playable again. The Klassik Stiftung Weimar, together with the C. Bechstein company and the Franz Liszt University of Music Weimar, celebrated the renovation of the grand piano from 1881 with a festive matinée in the Liszt House yesterday. Read More →

German pianist Robert Neumann, 23, has won Gold Award at the 7th NTD International Piano Competition at Kaufman Music Center in New York City. The International Piano Competition is part of a series of international cultural and arts events sponsored by NTD Television Network. Read More →

The Walther von der Vogelweide Preis Foundation honors the musician and violinist Julian Kainrath with the 2024 Youth Prize. Born in Merano in 2005, the violinist received the Discovery Award of the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) in 2022.

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Finnish conductor and composer Leif Segerstam has died aged 80, Finnish media reported today. After studies in violin, piano, composition and conducting at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki 1952-63 he continued with post-graduate studies at the Juilliard School of Music in New York. His initial career as a conductor started with positions in the opera houses of Helsinki, Stockholm, and West Berlin, and guest appearances included the Met, La Scala, Covent Garden, Teatro Colon and the opera houses of Cologne, Hamburg and Munich, Geneva and the Salzburg Festival. Read More →

American composer Miles Walter (*1994) is the Winner of an Open Application position to the Classeek Ambassador Program, Season 2024-2025. He is currently based in London where he is studying with George Benjamin. He is one of the five composers selected for this year’s edition of the Venice Biennale College Musica. He is preparing for his world-première concert at the Venice Biennale. Read More →

This year’s DYNAMIKfest Salzburg (6-12 October) partners with the Swiss Classeek’s Ambassador Programme to present three musicians for their debut in Salzburg, including violinist and composer Elise Bertrand, violist Paul Zientara, and cellist Jeein You. Read More →

Austrian violinist Leonhard Baumgartner won the Eurovision Young Musicians 2024 competition on Saturday evening in the northern Norwegian town of Bodø. He played an abbreviated version of Henri Vieuxtemps’ Violin Concerto No. 5. Second place went to the Swede Hugo Svedberg, followed by Fabian Egger from Germany. Read More →

Austrian violinist Leonhard Baumgartner (*2007), ICMA Discovery Award winner in 2023, just won the Ilona Fehér competition in Budapest. Read More →