Kahchun Wong
(c) Michael Trippel
Kah Chun Wong (*1986) from Singapore won First Prize at the Mahler Competition of the Bamberg Symphony. Second Prize went to Sergey Neller, Russia (*1986) and the third Prinze was awarded to Valentin Uryupin, Ukraine (*1985). No fourth prize was awarded.
Tonight, 13 May, the overall winner of the Competition, Kah Chun Wong, will conduct the Bamberg Symphony in the closing concert, during which all the winners will also be presented with their prizes. On the programme will be works from the Competition’s set repertoire, by Georg Friedrich Haas, Henri Dutilleux, Gustav Mahler and Jörg Widmann.
Kah Chun Wong is the Artistic Director and Conductor of the Asian Contemporary Ensemble. March 2015 saw his debut with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. He has appeared with orchestras such as the Berlin Konzerthaus Orchestra, the St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra, the George Enescu Philharmonic and Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. A protégé of Kurt Masur, he was invited to study with him at five masterclasses in New York, Leipzig and Tokyo, and two with the Baltic Youth Philharmonic. In September 2013, he assisted Kurt Masur at the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra.
Founded by the Bamberg Symphony, the Mahler Competition takes place every three years. This year, there were 381 applicants from 64 countries. 14 candidates were invited to Bamberg. The jury comprised Jonathan Nott, Marina Mahler, Marcus Rudolf Axt, Chief Executive of the Bamberg Symphony, the conductors Jiří Bělohlávek, John Carewe and Sir Neville Marriner, the conductor and singer Barbara Hannigan, the conductor and composer Jörg Widmann, the President and CEO of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Deborah Borda, the artist consultant Martin Campbell-White, the Provost and Dean of the Juilliard School Ara Guzelimian, and Boris-Alexander Jusa, a member of the Bamberg Symphony.
