ERIC ERICSON AWARD
Alexander Lüken from Germany is crowned winner of the Eric Ericson Award 2024!
Alexander Lüken earned a bachelor’s degree in music in 2010 from the Hochsschule für Musik und Tanz Köln and later earned a master’s degree in conducting from the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt Weimar. He often works with ensembles such as the ChorWerk Ruhr, the Wuppertal Symphony Orchestra and the Cologne Radio Choir, where he holds the role of assistant conductor.
Alexander competed in the final against Heide Müller, Germany and Marcel Ortega in Martí, Spain.
The jury chairman Justin Doyle on being a conductor:
“Why do we need conductors? Are we really necessary? When you hear this choir directed by three different people, and hear how it changes, then perhaps we realise there is more to it than just waving our arms about.
We need to know the score, and to delve into its musicological context, poetry and history more deeply than anyone else in the room,
– To have a very clear ‘picture’ of how it could sound, yet also remain open-minded.
– To hear clearly what the artists in front of us are actually doing.
– To use a broad range of musical tools and communication skills – physical, verbal and telepathic.
– To understand the needs of our singers, to trust them, gain their confidence and enable them to sing at their best.
– And to know when to leave things alone, in order to avoid causing unnecessary problems!
Finally, we must inspire the choir, and light a fire of imagination in them, so that something extraordinary can happen in concert. Simple!”
Swedish Radio Berwaldhallen Concert Hall, in collaboration with the Royal Swedish Academy of Music and with the support of the Rosenborg Gehrman Foundation and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), has re-established the Eric Ericson Award, the international competition for young choral conductors, which last took place in 2021.
The 2024 Eric Ericson Award will be the fifth time the competition has been held, and aims as before to identify, encourage and support promising young choral conductors in the spirit of Eric Ericson. The ambition of the award is to achieve a very high artistic and competitive level in choral conducting, corresponding to the status that Eric Ericson achieved worldwide during his career. The Eric Ericson Award gives the next generation of choral conductors the opportunity to pursue an international career.
The Eric Ericson Award is organised by Swedish Radio under the auspices of Berwaldhallen Concert Hall and in collaboration with the Swedish Royal Academy of Music, with the support The Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation, The Märta Christina and Magnus Vahlquist Foundation, The Rosenborg Gehrman Foundation, and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). The competition is planned to be held every three years.
ABOUT THE COMPETITION
The Eric Ericson Award is open to young choir conductors of all nationalities who are 35 years of age or younger at the start of the Competition (i.e. 23 October 2024). Applications are open to everyone. The repertoire will be chosen from Western art music, with some emphasis on contemporary Swedish choral music.
After the application period, a Pre-selection Committee consisting of highly experienced choral conductors and conducting teachers will review the applications, selecting eight competitors who advance to the final round in Berwaldhallen in Stockholm.
Mats Paulson, lecturer in conducting at the Malmö Academy of Music, is chair of the Pre-selection Committee. The other members are Mats Nilsson, Lone Larsen, Karin Oldgren, Christina Hörnell, Kari Turunen and Simon Kim Phipps.
A repertoire committee has selected the repertoire for the final round of the competition.
The winner of the Eric Ericson Award 2024 is selected by a jury consisting of internationally prominent choral conductors and previous winners of the competition.
The chairman of the jury is Justin Doyle. The jury also includes Kaspars Putniņš, Krista Audere, Erik Westberg, Martina Batič , Friederike Woebcken and Sofia Niklasson, member of the Swedish Radio Choir.
The winner gets the opportunity to work with several of Europe’s leading radio choirs, together with a prize sum of SEK 100,000, which is provided by the Rosenborg Gehrmans Stiftelse. The two second prize winners each receive a scholarship of SEK 25,000.
Important dates
• March 1 2024: Your competition application must be at our disposal by this date at the latest.
• June 15, 2024: We announce the eight participants who made it to the semifinals.
• October 23 and 24 2024: Rehearsals and semi-finals are held, where the eight participants conduct Eric Ericsons Kammarkör and S:t Jacobs Chamber Choir before the jury, which then appoints three finalists.
• October 25, 2024: The three selected finalists rehearse with the Swedish Radio Choir before the final.
• October 26 2024: The final will be broadcast live on Sweden’s Radio P2 from Berwaldhallen in Stockholm.
Participating choirs
The following choirs have accepted to engage the winner of the 2024 Eric Ericson Award during some of their upcoming seasons:
- Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks
- MDR Rundfunkchor
- BBC Singers
- Radio France Radio Choir
- DR Vokalensemblet
- Hungarian Radio Choir
- RIAS Kammerchor Berlin
- Netherlands Radio Choir
- RTVE Radio Choir, Spain
- Swedish Radio Choir
The official language of the EEA is English. A basic understanding of the English language is required of all applicants.
Repertoire
The Repertoire committee consists of Helene Stureborg, conductor and head of planning for the Swedish Radio Choir, Evabritt Selén, Music Librarian and Lars Johansson Brissman, singer in the Swedish Radio Choir.
The repertoire is selected from the classical, romantic and contemporary periods of Western art music. Swedish and Nordic music in general has a special role in the competition. The intention is to choose works of similar length, similar difficulty and, above all, that they contain inspiring challenges for the competing choir conductors; difficulties which also make it easier for the jury to make an assessment.
The repertoire for the Eric Ericson Award 2024:
Semifinals:
I Pizzetti: Ululate from Tre Composizioni corali (Suvini Zerboni)
E Rautavaara: Credo (Schott Music)
G Grigorjeva: In Paradisum (JW Pepper)
N Forte: O Oriens (Gehrmans)
C Unander-Scharin: Mutation from Calligrammes (Gehrmans)
S-D Sandström: April och tystnad (Gehrmans)
J Bingham: The Darkness Is No Darkness (Ed Peters)
M Sköld: We Know Not Where the Dragons Fly (Gehrmans)
Final:
I Lidholm: De profundis (NM/Gehrmans)
A Mellnäs: Laude (ER/Gehrmans)
S Garrop: Sonnets of Desire, Longing and Whimsy (Garrop.com)
ABOUT THE ERIC ERICSON AWARD
The Eric Ericson Award was established on the initiative of Stefan Parkman at Uppsala University. The competition was then held in 2003, 2006 and 2009 by Uppsala University’s choral centre, Eric Ericson International Choral Centre, Sveriges Radio and Rikskonserter with prize money from Eric Ericson’s Foundation.
The competition was revived in 2021 at the initiative of Sveriges Radio Berwaldhallen in collaboration with the Royal Academy of Music with the support of the Rosenborg-Gerhrman Foundation and EBU, the European Radio Union. The highly prestigious competition attracts young conductors from far beyond Sweden’s borders and the 2021 winner was Krista Audere from Latvia. Previous winners have been Kjetil Almenning (2009), Martina Batič (2006) and Peter Dijkstra (2003).
