MWB21_Programm_Interaktiv

Greetings
3
Dear Friends of the ARD Music
Competition,
musical life is gradually picking up
speed again after a long rest and ARD’s
International Music Competition has no
intention of prolonging the year-long
standstill caused by the pandemic.
We look forward to the 70th celebration
of the ARD Music Competition, which is
actually its 69th. Even in this complicated
year, the applicants for the world’s
biggest classical music competition
were as numerous as ever. In the Vocal
category, the total of 368 entries actually
set a record for the number of
applications. This year, a total of 661
young musicians from 54 countries put
their names forward for the disciplines
of Voice, Violin, Piano Duo and Horn,
of whom we have invited 228 to compete
in the first round, and exceptionally
this year’s Round 1 will be conducted
digitally. How many of these competitors
can be invited to Munich for Round
2 depends on the results of the opening
round. And we are keen to see how far
we can open up this year’s competition
in September from the second round
onwards so that it is physically accessible
to our wonderful, loyal audience far
and wide. Lack of interest and flagging
enthusiasm will certainly not be the
problem.
No matter whether one sees talent
as primarily a gift or more of a challenge
– each musician and each artist
will have their own individual weighting
– that talent must be nurtured in
order to develop and grow. Much as
it represents a commitment for society
as a whole, the encouragement and
guidance of gifted young people must
be practised at an individual level.
A country that does not nurture its
talented artists is doing damage to its
culture, its knowledge, the inspiration
and creativity of its people – damage
to art itself. That is why, with its International
Music Competition, ARD
has for decades understood it to be
one of its most precious obligations
to provide space for top international
musical talent, to promote it and to
encourage it.
In addition to the final concerts
together with the Munich Radio Orchestra,
the Munich Chamber Orchestra
and the Symphony Orchestra of Bavarian
Radio we would like to revive public
master classes and to offer musicians
additional performances. We shall have
to be patient and wait and see if the
pandemic will allow us to do so in
September. Now we are determined to
revive all those activities if we possibly
can. This year we are glad that it is possible
to stage the competition at all. For
this we have more than Fate to thank,
and are profoundly grateful to the
senior management of public-service
broadcaster ARD. Irrespective of cost
constraints, ARD holds fast to the continuation
of the competition, thus underlining
how much importance it attaches
to the new generation of musicians.
We express our sincere thanks to all our
incredibly committed members of staff,
our many patrons and our principal
sponsor, the Siemens Arts Program.
Together they make it possible to take
the competition forward into the
future after its one-year break.
Oswald Beaujean, Dr. Meret Forster,
Artistic Directors
Translation: Janet and Michael Berridge, Berlin
Greetings