Marie Jacquot (France), Kerem Hasan (Great Britain) and Nuno Filipe Coelho Silva (Portugal) – the three young finalists competing for the 2017 prize during the Award Concert Weekend have been chosen. The previous year’s winner, Aziz Shokhakimov, who has already gone on to conduct at renowned opera houses as the Deutsche Oper am Rhein recently, conducts his Prize Winner’s Concert at the Felsenreitschule on August 5.
Marie Jacquot, Nuno Filipe Coelho Silva, Kerem Hasan, photo Salzburger Festspiele / Andreas Kolarik
The Nestlé and Salzburg Festival Young Conductors Award takes place this year for the 8th time. Once again, interest was tremendous: 67 candidates from 5 continents and 33 countries applied for the Award, which has developed into one of the most coveted international honours for young conductors.
The jury chaired by Dennis Russell Davies selected eight candidates among the 67 applicants. During rehearsal day, which was closed to the public, the young conductors rehearsed two contemporary compositions each with the österreichisches ensemble für neue musik (œnm). The obligatory piece was Arnold Schoenberg’s Chamber Symphony No. 1 in E major Op. 9 for 15 solo instruments; for their second piece, candidates were given their choice among the following three works selected by the jury
The jury with the three finalists from Nestlé and Salzburg Festival Young Conductors Award 2017, photo SF/Kolarik
Goffreo Petrassi (Estri for 15 players), Elliott Carter (Triple Duo for six players) and Pierre Boulez (Dérive 1 for 6 instruments).
The Jury’s Decision
“Gratified and impressed by the level of the 7 candidates that we had, and we had a long discussion. We are confident that the three that we selected for the finals in August will conduct very good concerts and that they are on the threshold of starting what we all hope will be a good career,” declared the jury’s chairman, Dennis Russell Davies.
Marie Jacquot (born June 1990) – France,
Kerem Hasan (born January 1992) – Great Britain,
Nuno Filipe Coelho Silva (born March 1989) – Portugal
Finalists’ Statements
Marie Jacquot: “It is an honour to be among the finalists of the Nestlé and Salzburg Festival Young Conductors Award. For a young conductor like me, it means special motivation and joy to be part of this Salzburg tradition. I find inspiration in many areas of music, not just classical. I have no concrete role model, but an idea of the quality I want to achieve.”
Kerem Hasan: “To me it is a privilege to have reached the finale of the Nestlé and Salzburg Festival Young Conductors Award. I try to empathize with a conductor, trying to understand what his intention is. I want to be as honest as I can – with myself, but also with the music. I approach working with an orchestra with as much openness as I can. My role models are conductors who combine extraordinary technique with emotional depth and outstanding communicative abilities. I have great respect and admiration for Bernard Haitink and Antonio Pappano.”
Nuno Filipe Coelho Silva: “It is impossible not to think of Mozart when Salzburg is mentioned. I am humbled when I think of the rich history and the renown of the Salzburg Festival. I have several role models; I particularly admire Carlos Kleiber and Bernard Haitink. In Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Pierre Boulez, I admire their passion and devotion, which always enabled them to find new ways.”
Nuno Filipe Coelho Silva, Marie Jacquot, Kerem Hasan
The Award Concert Weekend takes place during the Salzburg Festival’s summer season for the second time this year. The three finalists conduct the Camerata Salzburg at the Mozarteum Foundation. The concert programmes will be chosen together with the candidates and announced in 3 June 2017. Once again, a particular focus is on contemporary music. As in previous years, the public is invited to attend the Award Concert Weekend and observe the proceedings determining who receives the Award and the sum of € 15,000 which it includes.
Concert Dates:
Friday, August 4, 2017, 3 pm, Saturday, August 5, 2017, 3 pm, Sunday, August 6, 2017, 3 pm.
The three concerts will take place during the 2017 Salzburg Festival. Each will include a selected orchestra as well as a young soloist chosen from the participants of the Young Singers Project, resulting in a collaboration between two important, internationally renowned young artist programmes of the Festival. After the third concert, the jury chaired by Dennis Russell Davies will announce the winner of the 2017 Nestlé and Salzburg Festival Young Conductors Award. (From Press Release)