26 February - 5 March 2010
The third International Conducting Competition took place in Bamberg's Concerthall from 26 February until 5 March 2010. Twelve highly talented young conductors from all over the world had the chance to work with a professional orchestra as the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra and prove their conducting skills before the jury and the interested public. More than 300 young men and women had applied for the 2010 competition.
In the spirit of the preceding competitions the requested set repertoire traced an unbroken line uniting the traditional canon, modern classics and contemporary music. Alongside works by Mahler (Symphony No. 4 and a selection from the songs for voice and orchestra with soprano Christina Landshamer), Haydn (Symphony No. 104 D major Hob. I:104) and Webern (Five Pieces for Orchestra op. 10), the repertoire for the Competition concentrated on two contemporary compositions – works by Matthias Pintscher (“towards Osiris”, 2005) and Jörg Widmann (“Con brio”, 2008).
On 4th March the Jury of the International Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition 2010 publicly announced the competition winners: Winner of the Comeptition was Ainārs Rubiķis from Latvia (*1978), the second prize was awarded to Aziz Shokhakimov from Usbekistan (*1988), and the third prize went to Yordan Kamdzhalov from Bulgaria (*1980). No fourth prize has been awarded in 2010.
Jonathan Nott, Principal Conductor of the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra and President of the Jury commented: “I am absolutely delighted that Ainārs Rubiķis has won this year’s Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition. From the outset we have committed ourselves to finding and nurturing genuine musical talent: not necessarily the next conducting super-star but rather to unearth someone who we believe will grow and contribute substantially to music-making in the future. This year, as with Gustavo Dudamel in 2004, we have found an exceptional conductor who has barely had the chance to conduct outside his native land prior to coming to Bamberg; what a wonderful journey Ainārs Rubiķis is about to embark on!”
The International Conducting Comepetition 2010 has also been portrayed in the movie "Der Taktstock - The Baton" made by Michael Wende. The movie has already been very successful and won various awards: www.der-taktstock-film.de