INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION FOR THE ART OF LIED
Stuttgart 2010 Lied Duo

In September 2010, the Internationale Hugo-Wolf-Akademie is once again organising the International Competition for the Art of Lied in Stuttgart. The competition is posted for Lied duos and takes place from September 14-19 at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Stuttgart.

The competition focuses solely on the art of Lied. This probably most intimate and personal genre in music makes the utmost demands on the skills of the interpreters. It not only requires an extremely technical and vocal flexibility, the most essential qualification for a good Lied singer. Singing Lied is about expressing nuances of highly diverse shades of emotion and telling a story in only a few lines without big gestures or props, about lending the lyrical ego a voice awakened to life by the colour and shape of sound. And this applies for both the singer as well as the pianist. Only in the perfect interaction of voice and accompaniment can an extraordinary performance be achieved. With the International Competition for the Art of Lied in Stuttgart, the Hugo-Wolf-Akademie promotes this special art form and wants to encourage young singers and pianists to devote themselves to the art of Lied.

The competition 2010 is dedicated to the composers Robert Schumann, Hugo Wolf and Gustav Mahler, all who celebrate a special anniversary in 2010. The participants have total artistic responsibility when selecting works to perform in the competition.

Only duos may participate. The competition organisers will not provide any official accompanists as the Internationale Hugo-Wolf-Akademie endeavours to raise the awareness of the art of Lied as a partnership of two chamber musicians. Therefore it is the aim of this competition to discover outstanding Lied duos and to help them to attain international recognition.

Chairman of the Internationale Hugo-Wolf-Akademie
Dr. Herbert Müller

Director of the competition
Hans Georg Koch

Ombudsman
Patrick Strub

Organisation
Dr. Cornelia Weidner, Josephine Geipel

Jury
Brigitte Fassbaender, Austria (chairwoman)
Birgid Steinberger, Austria
Robert Holl, Netherlands
Kurt Widmer, Switzerland
Wolfram Rieger, Germany
Graham Johnson, Great Britain