Welcome

to the second edition of the Kodály International Music Competition which will be held between 20-28 August 2023 in Debrecen, Hungary.

Debrecen is Hungary’s second largest city, the home of not only a prominent symphonic orchestra and an exquisite theatre, but also of the world-renowned Kodály Choir.

A truly youthful and international city: the University of Debrecen has about 30,000 students, with the highest proportion of foreign graduates from the CEE countries.

As the cultural, educational and economic center of Eastern Hungary, it is easily reachable by all means of transportation, and it also has an international airport.

We believe that the tremendous cultural potential of Debrecen can be fully exploited by this new competition which is planned to be held every two years, each time in different categories. The first edition was a string (violin, viola, violoncello) competition held between 17-26 June 2022.

News

List of competitors in the 1st Round

Andrianov, Alexander (Russia) Benatar, Tal (USA, Israel) Binder, Alexander Sinan (Germany) De Jager, Jacobus (South Africa) Dénes-Worowski Marcell (Hungary) Dutton, William (UK) Erdélyi Dániel (Hungary) Guy, Orr (Israel, Austria) Gwizdalla, Mateusz (Australia, Poland) Habart, Jiří (Czech Republic) Hildebrand, Philip (German) Jin, Yukuang (China) Liao, Brian (Taiwan – China) Marsovszky, Johannes (Germany) Marsovszky, Paul (Germany) Melaniuk,

Prize winners of the first edition

Six contestants competed in the finals of the first Kodály International Music Competition between 17 and 26 June. According to the decision of the international jury chaired by violinist Kristóf Baráti, 1st prize goes to Carlos Vidal.

List of competitors in the FINALS

ABRAMOVA, Valeria – violin (Russia) HULOT, Marie-Astrid – violin (France) MICHALSKI, Krzysztof – cello (Poland) TEMESVÁRI, Bence – cello (Hungary) VIDAL, Carlos – cello (Spain) YOON, Yuri – viola (South Korea)

List of competitors in the SEMI-FINALS

ABRAMOVA, Valeria – violin (Russia) AUER, Katharina – violin (Austria) CSIKÓS, Vilmos – violin (Hungary) HARTMANN, Domonkos Péter – cello (Hungary) HULOT, Marie-Astrid – violin (France) ISAACS, Brian – viola (USA) KARLS, Lorenz – violin (Sweden, Austria) MICHALSKI, Krzysztof – cello (Poland) NAM, Jeongheon – cello (South Korea) SILVA SOUSA, Sofia – viola (Portugal) SUSSMANN,

List of competitors in the Preliminary

ABRAMOVA, Valeria – violin (Russia) AUER, Katharina – violin (Austria) BALOGH, Nella – cello (Hungary) CHA, WooBeen – violin (South Korea) CHIN, Matthew – violin (Hong Kong – China) CSIKÓS, Vilmos – violin (Hungary) DEVUTSKAIA, Sofia – violin (Russia) ERDŐS, Boglárka – violin (Netherlands, Hungary) ERICKSON, Marley – violin (USA) FÓRIS, Zsófia – violin (Hungary)

200 applications received for the first Kodály Competition

The call for entries closed on 31 January with a huge international response: exactly 200 young musicians from 43 countries on five continents applied. The competition will be held in the violin, viola, and cello categories between 17–26 June in Debrecen. The applicants, who include musicians from the US, Iceland, Germany, Armenia, Uzbekistan, and New

Rules of the Qualifying Round

Dear Applicants, we are aware that due to the COVID-19 pandemic it is very challenging to find piano accompanists for the Qualifying Videos. Therefore, the Kodály Competition decided to set forth the following rules: 1) Qualifying Round Video 1 (one movement of a solo piece by J. S. Bach) is mandatory. To be eligible for the competition,

General information

The Competition is open to conductors of all nationalities who were born

  • on or after 20 August 1988 (maximum 35 years of age on the opening day of the competition) and
  • on or before 20 August 2002 (at least 21 years of age on the opening day of the competition).

The Competition takes place in four rounds: Qualifying Round, 1st Round, 2nd Round and 3rd Round. All the rounds, except for the Qualifying Round, are open to the public.

The jury will advance max. 12 conductors to the 2nd Round and 6 to the 3rd Round.

Find out more about the competition rules by clicking on this link.

Application is open from 7 December 2022 until 28 February 2023.

Registration