The 15th Donatella Flick
Conducting Competition
20-22 November 2018, Barbican, London
On 22 November 2018, the 28-year-old German conductor Felix Mildenberger won the 15th Donatella Flick Conducting Competition at London’s Barbican Centre.
He received a £15,000 cash prize from Donatella Flick and took up the position of Assistant Conductor at the London Symphony Orchestra for a year, giving him a unique opportunity to learn on the job with some of the world’s leading conductors and a world-class symphony orchestra.
Winner Felix Mildenberger, HRH The Duke of Kent, Donatella Flick and runners-up Alexander Colding Smith and Harry Ogg pictured backstage after the Competition Final.
The runners up were Harry Ogg, aged 27 from the UK and Alexander Colding Smith, 29 from Denmark.
The concert opened with three performances of the Prelude to Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, each conducted by a different finalist, followed by the three movements of Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No 2 with soloist Vadim Repin, also serving on the judging panel, and Kodály’s Dances of Galánta.
For the first time, the Final was streamed live giving a worldwide audience the opportunity to experience the concert. The preliminary rounds were also open to the public for the first time, and the maximum age of applicants was lowered to 30 from 35, to better target early-career conductors.
Felix Mildenberger received his award on stage from HRH the Duke of Kent, a long-standing supporter of the Competition, and Donatella Flick.
Winner 2018:
Felix Mildenberger, 28, Germany
Runners up:
Harry Ogg, 27, UK
Alexander Colding Smith, 29 Denmark
Jury 2018:
Sian Edwards (Conductor)
Tadaaki Otaka (Conductor)
François-Xavier Roth (Conductor)
Yan Pascal Tortelier (Conductor)
Vadim Repin (Violinist)
Gareth Davies (LSO Principal Flute)
Christine Pendrill (LSO Principal Cor Anglais) Lennox Mackenzie (former LSO Sub-Leader)