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Press Release24 October 2021Siemens AGBerlin
Emerging conductors Christian Blex and Oscar Jockel win Siemens Conductors Scholarship
The panel members together with the three finalists (f.l.t.r): Peter Riegelbauer, Annette Mangold, Andrea Zietzschmann, Kirill Petrenko, Isabel Rubio, Oscar Jockel, Christian Blex, Stanley Dodds, Pamela Rosenberg and Stephan Frucht.
The two winners of the Siemens Conductors Scholarship: Oscar Jockel and Christian Blex
“For me,
winning the Siemens Conductors Scholarship is a dream come true”, said Christian
Blex. He is a fellow of both the German Conductors Forum as well as the
Norwegian Conductors Forum. In 2020 Blex was selected as the assistant
conductor of British Youth Opera for that season and has been working at the
Norwegian Opera Academy as a conductor as well as an assistant to Gregor Bühl.
“It’s a
great privilege to have the opportunity to assist Kirill Petrenko and work with
the Karajan Academy”, stated Oscar Jockel. As a conducting assistant and
conductor Oscar Jockel worked with orchestras such as the Sächsische
Staatskapelle Dresden, and the Klangforum Wien. In 2021 he won an Aspen
Conducting Prize as Conducting Fellow of the American Conducting Academy.
This was the
first year in which the Siemens Conductors Scholarship was awarded using such a
shortlisting process. The competition started on Friday, October 22, 2021,
and consisted of three selection rounds held over three days. A total of 189 up-and-coming
conductors from 30 countries applied. Ten of these talented artists were
invited to the three-day conducting competition at the Berliner Philharmonie
concert hall. Three of them competed against each other in the final round on
Sunday. Isabel Rubio from Spain joined Blex and Jockel in the final round. All
three finalists played excerpts from works by Debussy, Tchaikovsky and
Beethoven.
“I’m really
looking forward to working with Christian Blex and Oscar Jockel – the new recipients
of the Conductors Scholarship at the Karajan
Academy”, said Peter
Riegelbauer, manager of the Karajan Academy and double-bass player for the
Berliner Philharmoniker. “Oscar Jockel and Christian Blex, both showed that
they are highly talented emerging conductors and impressive artists. The level of
performance during the three-day selection process was outstanding, and we had
the opportunity to meet many exciting young conductors.”
This was the
second year in which the Siemens Conductors Scholarship was awarded. The first
scholarship recipient was the Japanese conductor, Nodoka Okisawa, who has been at
the Academy since September 2020.
“Talented young
people need knowledgeable partners who believe in them”, said Stephan Frucht, artistic
director of the Siemens Arts Program and member of the jury. “That’s why – as
part of the Siemens Arts Program – we’re working with great care on new formats
that build bridges between emerging talent and the international cultural
institutions we’re partnering with. Our partnership with the Karajan Academy
enables us to help young artists to further develop their skills on one of the
best stages.”
In addition to Peter Riegelbauer and Stephan
Frucht, the competition’s jury included jury chairman Kirill Petrenko (chief
conductor of the Berliner Philharmoniker), Andrea Zietzschmann (general manager
of the Berliner Philharmoniker Foundation), Annette Mangold (director of
artistic planning of the Berliner Philharmoniker Foundation), Pamela Rosenberg
(member of the Karajan Academy’s Board of Trustees) and Stanley Dodds (second
violin of the Berliner Philharmoniker and media chairman).
The Siemens
Arts Program is active in the fields of music, visual arts and cultural
education and sees itself as a creative platform for Siemens’ own arts and
cultural projects. One of the program’s important goals is fostering the
development of outstanding emerging talent worldwide. This is done by
initiating competitions for emerging talent and putting young artists in touch
with established international cultural institutions (Bayerische Staatsoper,
Carnegie Hall New York, Opéra National de Paris, Salzburg Festival, ARD
International Music Competition).
Siemens AG (Berlin and Munich) is a technology company focused on industry, infrastructure, transport, and healthcare. From more resource-efficient factories, resilient supply chains, and smarter buildings and grids, to cleaner and more comfortable transportation as well as advanced healthcare, the company creates technology with purpose adding real value for customers. By combining the real and the digital worlds, Siemens empowers its customers to transform their industries and markets, to transform the everyday for billions of people. Siemens also owns a majority stake in the publicly listed company Siemens Healthineers, a globally leading medical technology provider shaping the future of healthcare. In addition, Siemens holds a minority stake in Siemens Energy, a global leader in the transmission and generation of electrical power.
In fiscal 2020, which ended on September 30, 2020, the Siemens Group generated revenue of €55.3 billion and net income of €4.2 billion. As of September 30, 2020, the company had around 293,000 employees worldwide. Further information is available on the Internet at www.siemens.com.
The Karajan Academy of the Berliner Philharmoniker was founded at the initiative of Herbert von Karajan. In the early 1970s, he had the idea of organizing the training of the Berliner Philharmoniker’s emerging orchestral musicians in an academy. At the time, this form of institutionalized fostering of talent was an innovation. For the first time, an opportunity was created to enable outstanding young musicians – who complete a first-class education at the university level but usually in a form that leans heavily toward a soloistic repertoire – to perfect their skills as part of a community of musicians of the kind assembled in the Berliner Philharmoniker. Instructors who are members of the orchestra give the young musicians one-on-one instruction and support them in the area of chamber music. Integrating academy students into the orchestra’s rehearsals and concerts enables them to gain indispensable experience for their careers and learn the professional discipline of a world-class orchestra while developing a concert routine in the best sense of the term.
Contact
Lena Pelull
Karajan Academy of the Berliner Philharmoniker
+49 (30) 254 88 254