Brahms Piano Competition Detmold 2021

The third International Brahms Piano Competition Detmold has a radiant winner: Jonas Aumiller thrilled the numerous audience in the Detmold Konzerthaus and the jury at the live-streamed final with Brahms' 1st Piano Concerto, accompanied by the Northwest German Philharmonic Orchestra under Florian Ludwig. The 23-year-old German has already won prizes in several other competitions and is currently studying with Sergey Babayan in the USA. He proved to be an outstanding musical talent throughout the four rounds of the competition. "His playing combines structural intelligence, outstanding sound control and deep emotionality," said the artistic director of the competition, Prof. Jacob Leuschner. "Such a winner is a credit to the Brahms Competition". In addition to the prize money of 5,000 euros and a CD production by the Erich Thienhaus Institute, many attractive prizewinner concerts await Aumiller, such as in the historic Ahnensaal of Corvey Castle in the "Stars of Tomorrow" series, at the Böblingen Pianists' Festival and the Bagno Concert Gallery Steinfurt. Furthermore, the young pianist will perform in the upcoming season with Amy Beach's Piano Concerto under the direction of Florian Ludwig and the Philharmonic Orchestra of the City of Giessen.

The other prizewinners also proved the considerably higher level of the competition this year, for which 70 pianists from 20 countries had registered, 30 of whom were invited to Detmold. All finalists had chosen Brahms' 1st Piano Concerto this time. The 2nd prize (3,000 euros) as well as the special prize of the University Foundation (1,000 euros) for the best interpretation of a work of classical modernism went to the 20-year-old Russian Matvey Shumkov, who studies at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory. He proved to be a distinctly lyrical talent with a sensitive sense of sound and a tendency towards dreamy, introverted music-making. The 3rd prize (2,000 euros) was won by the Japanese Teppei Kuroda, who is currently studying in Detmold, with a very serious, sometimes edgy, pianistically impeccable interpretation of the concerto. In view of the fact that another outstanding participant only missed making it into the final by a hair's breadth, the jury decided to take the generous step of awarding a special jury prize of 600 euros from its own funds, which will go to Yi-Ting Tsai from Taiwan. Interesting follow-up concerts also await these three other prize winners. Shumkov will give a piano recital on the historic Blüthner grand piano in the festival hall of Schloss Moritzburg in Detmold's partner city Zeitz and, like Jonas Aumiller, will perform in the Thürmer Hall in Bochum. Yi-Ting Tsai was engaged by Konzertdirektion Koltun for a piano recital, Teppei Kuroda will be heard in two concert series organised by Julius Blüthner Pianofortefabrik. Together with the Alfred Reinhold Foundation, the Blüthner Pianoforte Factory was once again the cooperation partner of the Detmold University of Music and the main sponsor of the competition.

Both participants and jury were unanimous in their enthusiastic praise for the Blüthner concert grand piano provided, which, with its richly coloured, carrying sound, seemed tailor-made for the music of Brahms. Compared to the instruments of previous competition years, numerous constructive changes have brought about considerable improvements in sound and playing style.

The international jury was also unanimous in its assessment of the outstanding overall quality of the competition, which has now finally found its place in the canon of important international piano competitions. This year's jury consisted of Young-Lan Han (Seoul), Catherine Vickers (Essen), Ivan Klánský (Prague), Einar Steen-Nøkleberg (Oslo), Jacob Leuschner (Detmold) and, in the final, the conductor Florian Ludwig (Detmold) and Henri Sigfridsson (Essen).

The next Brahms Piano Competition Detmold will take place in September 2024.