Over the past two weeks more than one hundred participants from twenty countries came to Katowice,Poland, to compete in the five competition categories at the first Karol Szymanowski International Music Competition.
The Karol Szymanowski International Music Competition is held every five years with total prize money of over 280.000 Euros. It aims to promote Polish music and to raise awareness of Karol Szymanowski and his compositions. Krzysztof Penderecki and Simon Rattle form the Competition’s Honorary Committee and the Director of the Competition is Joanna Wnuk-Nazarowa. The competition is organised by the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra (NOSPR).
The winners of the Karol Szymanowski International Music Competition have been announced as follows:
Composition: Giovanni Bonato. The Italian composer studied at the Verdi Conservatoire in Milan and is the winner of more than 20 international prizes from Rome to Tokyo. His works have been performed by musicians and orchestras around the world including the Arditti Quartet, Ex Novo Ensemble, Leonard Slatkin, the Estonian National Male Choir and the World Youth Choir.
Piano: Tymoteusz Bies. The 23-year-old pianist has won prizes in many major piano competitions and festivals including the National Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw and 1st prize at the Friuli Venezia Giulia International Piano Competition.
String Quartet: Eliot Quartett. The Germany based Eliot Quartett was founded in 2014 and named after T. S. Eliot’s Four Quartets which was inspired by Beethoven’s late quartets. The Eliot Quartet are united with Eliot and Beethoven in trying to establish a connection between the past, present and future by breaking away from the accepted classical forms of their time.
Violin: Slawomira Wilga; She has won prizes at many competitions. As a soloist, she has repeatedly performed with European and Asian symphony orchestras, chamber orchestras and ensembles including the Silesian, Kalisz, Zabrze Philharmonic Orchestras, and Norwegian Telemark Orchestra.
Voice: Ewa Tracz. A former member of the young artist programme at the Accademia Teatro Alla Scala, Tracz made her La Scala debut in 2016 singing Konstanze in Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail.
