Estonian conductor Henri Christofer Aavik is the first winner of the German Conducting Award 2025, which comes with a prize of €15,000. Second place went to Luis Toro Araya (Chile), and third place to Friedrich Praetorius (Germany). The Kurt Masur Audience Award for the final concert was presented to Henri Christofer Aavik. The concert at the Cologne Philharmonic Hall was preceded by a week-long competition. From an initial 234 applications, 12 international conductors were selected to take part in the competition and work with the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, the WDR Symphony Orchestra, and singers from the Cologne Opera.
The first prize is endowed with €15,000 and was donated two-thirds by the City of Cologne and one-third by the Ursula Lübbe Foundation. The first prize comes with engagements with the following partners: WDR Symphony Orchestra, Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, Cologne Opera, Konzerthaus Orchestra Berlin, Dresden Philharmonic, Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra, and Munich Symphony Orchestra. Luis Toro Araya received the second prize, which is endowed with €10,000. The third prize, endowed with €5,000, went to Friedrich Praetorius and was donated by the Oscar and Vera Ritter Foundation. The Kurt Masur Audience Prize, worth €3,000, was donated by the International Kurt Masur Institute and awarded to Henri Christofer Aavik.The three finalists also received the Bärenreiter Urtext Prize in the form of music vouchers worth €200 each. Additional prizes were presented by the companies Rohema and Woolwind.
The German Conducting Award is an international competition for young conductors organized by the German Music Council in partnership with the Cologne Philharmonic, the Cologne Opera, the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, and the WDR Symphony Orchestra. From October 14 to 20, 2025, it was held for the fifth time in this form in Cologne. The German Conducting Award is unique in its requirements, as it takes equal account of opera and concert genres in the repertoire, thus challenging the candidates' cross-genre skills. With a total of €33,000 in prize money and extensive additional support measures, it is considered one of the most highly endowed awards for conductors in Europe.
The concert was streamed live on the ARD Klassik YouTube channel and will be available to watch there again in a few days. The recording will also be broadcast on ARD Konzert on October 22, 2025, at 8:03 p.m. Participating stations: BR Klassik, hr2-kultur, MDR Klassik, NDR Kultur, RBB Kultur, SR Kultur, SWR Kultur, WDR 3.
Further photos of the final concert and the award ceremony are available on request.
Jury of the German Conducting Award 2025:
Ewa Bogusz-Moore (Artistic Director of the Cologne Philharmonic and Managing Director of KölnMusik GmbH), Jury Chair
Hermann Bäumer (Conductor)
Stefan Englert (Director of the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne)
Sebastian König (manager and producer, WDR Symphony Orchestra)
Patrick Lange (conductor)
Isabel Mundry (composer)
Andris Poga (conductor)
Anu Tali (conductor)
Anna van der Merwe (second violin, Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne)
Arne Willimczik (director of studies, Cologne Opera)
Haeree Yoo (principal horn, WDR Symphony Orchestra)
