La Maestra: All Winners

As inspiring and aspirational as the concept of the La Maestra International Conducting Competition was, the experience was even more so!  Enriched by the superb and supportive Paris Mozart Orchestra, overseen by a wonderfully efficient administrative team and witnessed at every stage by a substantial and very attentive audience, the event enjoyed a warm atmosphere that embodied the developmental goals of its organisers.

I particularly enjoyed the opportunity to spend several days with my fellow jury members, Deborah Borda, Marin Alsop, Claire Gibauld, Ariane Matiakh,  Markus Stenz and Jean-Francois Verdier. We had so much fun, even while working hard to adjudicate the competitors, then provide them with detailed feedback. It was also great that the feedback and support extended to prizes, awarded not only by the jury, but also by the orchestra, the French opera houses, the French concert houses as well as the Association of European Concert Houses.

Warm congratulations to the extremely deserving competition winners, Anna Sulkowska-Mignon, Joanna Natalia Slusarcyk and Beatriz Fernandez Aucejo as well as the excellent field of quarter and semi-finalists, all winners in their own individual ways!