Interviews

Since the age of 4, Munich-born Maya Wichert has been playing the violin. Her enormous talent became apparent very early on. Master classes with Julia Fischer, Christoph Poppen, Ingolf Turban, countless competition successes, sponsorship awards and scholarships underline the potential of the young violinist. Many reasons for the jury of the International Classical Music Awards to present Maya Wichert with the Discovery Award 2021. Jury member Guy Engels (Radio 100.7, Luxembourg) made the following interview with her.

At the age of 15, you are still fully involved in the daily school routine, which is not easy to cope with, especially in times of a pandemic. Apart from the current difficulties, how do you generally manage school and music studies and still keep some free time as well?
I just try to combine everything well: the time for school, for practicing and for myself.  I usually do my schoolwork first, then I get out the violin.  Read More →

We no longer present Paul van Nevel, to whom we owe a unique work on the choral repertoire and so many unexpected discoveries. At the helm of his Huelgas Ensemble, van Nevel recorded Simone de Bonefont’s Messa pro Mortuis. This album Cyprès won in ICMA’s Early Music category. ICMA jury member Pierre-Jean Tribot (Crescendo)  made the following interview with the conductor. Read More →

Among the winners of the International Classical Music Awards 2021 is the CD Fantasque produced by Audite and played by the violinist Franziska Pietsch and the pianist Josu de Solaun. It contains Sonata no. 1 op. 13 in A major by Gabriel Fauré, the Sonata in G minor by Claude Debussy, the Sonata no. 2 in G major by Maurice Ravel and the Sonata for violin and piano by Francis Poulenc. Florica Jalba from Jury member Radio Romania Muzical made the following interview with Josu de Solaun. Read More →

The CD with the performances of the Croatian Glagolitic Requiem by Igor Kuljeric and the Hymn to Freedom by Jakov Gotovac, released by BR Klassik, won the prestigious International Classical Music Award in the choir category. Jury member Sanda Vojkovic made the following interview with Ivan Repusic, the chief conductor of the Munich Radio Orchestra, the guest conductor of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the chief conductor of the Zadar chamber orchestra and the person responsible for the selection, performance and recording of the award-winning program. Read More →

Ivan Boumans, winner of this year’s ICMA Composer Award is a very versatile musician. Besides composing, he is also a passionate teacher and conductor. His newest orchestral work, Organic Beat, was to be premiered at the ICMA Gala in Seville. After the cancellation of this event, the ICMA Board decided to cancel the 2021 Award and to postpone the one from 2020, so that Ivan Boumans’ work can be premiered at the next Gala with the Liechtenstein Symphony Orchestra in 2021. Jury member Guy Engels (Radio 100,7, Luxembourg) made the following interview with the awardee. Read More →

Sixteen-year-old German cellist Philipp Schupelius is the winner of the Discovery Award of the International Classical Music Awards 2020. The musician, who grew up in Berlin, is currently studying with Wolfgang-Emmanuel Schmidt at the Julius Stern Institute of the Berlin University of the Arts, one of the largest and most renowned institutions for the promotion of young musicians in Germany. At the occasion of concerts at the VP Bank Classic Festival in Bad Ragaz (Switzerland), Isabel Roth, Martin Hoffmeister and Remy Franck made the following interview with Philipp Schupelius.

Philipp, what does it mean for you as a young musician to have won the Discovery Award of the ICMA?
It is a very great honour! I am happy because the award is so important and helpful for young musicians and because I know about the career of previous award winners. And I am especially looking forward to the gala in Seville, where I will play two movements from one of my favourite concertos, the Elgar Concerto, with the Seville Orchestra under John Axelrod. Read More →

French conductor Stéphane Denève is the recipient of an International Classical Music Award for his recording of Honegger’s Jeanne d’Arc au Bûcher, an oratorio for actors, singers, choir and orchestra. For this recording, he is at the helm of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam for the orchestra’s label, RCO Live. Jean-Pierre Tribot from the ICMA Jury member magazine Crescendo made the following interview with the conductor. Read More →

The recording of French composer Pascal Dusapin’s opera Penthesilea won an ICMA award in the category Contemporary Music. Olivier Vrins, contributor of the ICMA Jury member Crescendo made the following interview with the composer.

Your opera Penthesilea has been unanimously acclaimed, notably at the last ICMA and the Belgian Caecilia Awards. It is considered by some to be the most accomplished and powerful opera you have composed so far. The music is so strong that it can perfectly do without the image. To what do you attribute the success of this work?
I’m obviously very happy with the success of this opera. By a happy combination of circumstances, the Penthesilea disc was released just as I was rehearsing my latest opera, Macbeth Underworld, which was staged here at La Monnaie a few months ago. I was immersed in Macbeth every day, and one evening I listened to Penthesilea in the apartment where I lived, in the centre of Brussels. I realised how different the two scores were! Read More →

For the first recording made with his ensemble Jupiter (created in 2018), Thomas Dunford has not stopped collecting praise and awards, among them the ICMA of 2020 in the Assorted Programs section. Eduardo Torrico from the Spanish magazine Scherzo made an interview with the musician, one of the most sought-after lutenists. The recording released by Alpha includes arias from operas and oratorios as well as concertos by Antonio Vivaldi. Dunford is surrounded by two of his best friends and collaborators: mezzo-soprano Lea Desandre and the harpsichordist Jean Rondeau. Read More →