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20 competitors announced for 18th Donatella Flick LSO Conducting Competition, coming to Sky Arts next year
Monday 24 November 2025
Twenty young conductors from 9 countries will compete in London for the opportunity to win £15,000 prize and LSO Assistant Conductor Role
Competition to be filmed for new Sky Arts series to be broadcast next spring, with results to be revealed in final episode
Esteemed jury to be chaired by Sir Antonio Pappano, joined by Sir James MacMillan, Sian Edwards, Thomas Søndergård, Sarah Quinn and Rachel Gough
Competition takes place 2-4 December 2025, LSO St Luke’s, London
The Donatella Flick LSO Conducting Competition today [24 November] announces the twenty young conductors that will compete at the 18th edition of the Competition in December.
Now in its 35th year and internationally recognised as one of the world’s leading conducting competitions, the Competition will see the conductors compete for the £15,000 prize awarded by Donatella Flick and for the opportunity to become Assistant Conductor with the London Symphony Orchestra for up to one year.
This year, for the first time, the competition will be filmed for a new Sky Arts series, Making A Maestro, airing in 2026. Produced by Love Monday, the programme will capture the competition as it unfolds, following the competitors and judges to demystify the role of the conductor as the 20 finalists vie for the top spot. The winner will be unveiled in the final episode of the series, airing in spring next year.
The finalists announced come from nine countries: Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The competitors are drawn from the best conductors aged 30 or under who are citizens of the UK; countries having full membership of the European Union; and Norway, Iceland, Lichtenstein or Switzerland.
The 20 young conductors competing in the 18th Donatella Flick LSO Conducting Competition are:
Felix Benati French
Sieva Borzak Italian
Jooyoung Chang Austrian
Giovanni Conti Italian
Riley Court-Wood British
Matteo Dal Maso Italian
Nina Haug Swiss
Daniel Hogan British
Piotr Jaworski Polish
Maria Keller German
Leonhard Kreutzmann German
Julia Kurzydlak Polish
Kingsley Lin British
Jacob Niemann German
Alison Norris British
Friedrich Praetorius German
Roman Reshetkin French
Matthew Rhodes British
Konstantinos Terzakis Greek
Andreas van Tol Swedish
>Biographies for the competitors can be found here.
Donatella Flick, Founder of the Competition, said:
“I’m delighted to announce the young conductors who will be participating in this year’s Competition. These incredible musicians are some of the most talented in Europe and I’m excited to be able to see them in action later in the year, and to give them the opportunity to work with the wonderful London Symphony Orchestra and our esteemed jury. I wish all the conductors the best of luck for the Competition and I look forward to meeting them in London in December.
It’s also wonderful to be able to bring the Competition to a whole new audience through Sky Arts, and I hope audiences at home will enjoy watching these fantastic musicians in action.”
Phil Edgar-Jones OBE, Executive Director, Unscripted Originals at Sky said:
“Platforming the best young artists around is at the heart of what we do at Sky Arts, so it couldn’t be more fitting for us to partner with Donatella Flick and the London Symphony Orchestra to bring this competition to a wider audience of classical music lovers. Judging by the shortlist of international talent in the final, the future for the baton is bright.”
The winner is awarded £15,000 by Donatella Flick and will have the opportunity to become Assistant Conductor with the London Symphony Orchestra for up to one year. During this time with the LSO the successful conductor will work with the LSO’s Principal and guest conductors on the preparation of concerts, often on the assessment of new scores; take part in the LSO’s education and outreach programme, LSO Discovery; accompany the orchestra on tour and, should the opportunity arise, conduct the LSO in concert.
After the first day of competition the Jury selects ten conductors to go through to the Second Round, and from these three finalists will be chosen for the Final Round. Sir Antonio Pappano chairs the 2025 jury, joined by an impressive roster of musicians including composer and conductor Sir James MacMillan, conductors Sian Edwards and Thomas Søndergård, and LSO musicians Sarah Quinn (Sub-Principal Second Violin and LSO Chair) and Rachel Gough (Principal Bassoon).
Established in 1990 by Donatella Flick, the biennial competition bridges the gap between conservatoire training and professional careers for young conductors. For over 30 years it has launched the careers of many esteemed winners, including Elim Chan (2014), who recently conducted the Last Night of the BBC Proms, Clemens Schuldt (2010), Music Director of the Orchestre symphonique de Québec, and David Afkham (2008), Chief Conductor and Music Director of the Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España.
The Competition takes place at LSO St Luke’s in London between 2-4 December.
Making A Maestro comes to Sky Arts and streaming service NOW in spring 2026.
-ENDS-
For more information and interview requests please contact Premier PR:
Yasmin Hoy: Yasmin.hoy@premiercomms.com | +44(0) 7814 068008
For more information on Making A Maestro, please contact:
Lucy Butterfield: Lucy.Butterfield@sky.uk
Notes to Editors
Please find biographies and images for the competitors of the 18th Donatella Flick LSO Conducting Competition here.
Please find images from the previous Competition in 2023 here.
Competition Rounds and Repertoire
Round 1 (Quarter-final) - Tuesday 2 December 2025
JOSEPH HAYDN Symphony No 103
FRANZ SCHUBERT Symphony No 5
GRAŻYNA BACEWICZ Concerto for String Orchestra
Round 2 (Semi-final) - Wednesday 3 December 2025
RICHARD STRAUSS Oboe Concerto
RICHARD STRAUSS Horn Concerto No 2
JAMES MACMILLAN Symphony No 2
SALLY BEAMISH The Day Dawn (for string orchestra)
Competition Final - Thursday 4 December 2025
GIUSEPPE VERDI Overture: I Vespri Siciliani
JOHANNES BRAHMS Symphony No 2 (Movs 1,2 & 4)
NIKOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Scheherazade (Nos 1,2 & 4)
The Donatella Flick LSO Conducting Competition In 1990, Donatella Flick founded her Conducting Competition to offer much-needed support to young conductors at the start of their careers. She remains at the helm of the Competition working with a small team and in partnership with the London Symphony Orchestra to present the Competition every two years.
Donatella Flick became aware of the challenges faced by young conductors bridging the gap between conservatoire training and a professional career, the point at which many talented conductors falter or even abandon their conducting ambitions completely, and in 1990 she founded the Donatella Flick Conducting Competition to help address the issue.
Over thirty years later, and around 300 young conductors have taken part in 17 biennial Competitions in London and there have been 18 winners (in 2000, two conductors took the prize jointly).
In 1996 a partnership with the London Symphony Orchestra began which has continued to grow ever since. The Finalists are lucky enough to conduct the LSO during all three days of the Competition, and the Orchestra has a collective vote as part of the judging panel.
Many of the Competition’s winners have developed excellent careers. In 2014, Elim Chan became the first woman to win the Competition and her star has been rising sharply ever since. She was appointed to the Dudamel Fellowship programme with the LA Philharmonic in 2016/17 and in 2018 she became Principal Guest Conductor at the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. 2019 saw her BBC Proms debut with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and she was appointed Chief Conductor of the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra from the 2019/20 season.
Donatella Flick has always worked hard to ensure that the Competition benefits everyone who takes part, and not only the winners. She achieves this through carefully considered repertoire for each round, and by inviting conductors and musicians of the highest calibre to be on the jury, giving their time for free and bringing with them a wealth of experience and wisdom.
In 2018 the Competition broadened its reach through live-streaming and the production of an award-winning documentary. The Competition Final was streamed live for the first time, allowing a worldwide audience on Medici TV to experience the Competition at home.
In 2018 and 2021, Il sogno del podio, a major award-winning documentary about the Competition by was produced by RAI TV, Italy’s national broadcaster.
London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra believes that extraordinary music should be available to everyone, everywhere – from orchestral fans in the concert hall to first-time listeners all over the world.
The LSO was established in 1904 as one of the first orchestras shaped by its musicians. Since then, generations of remarkable talents have built the LSO’s reputation for quality, ambition and a commitment to sharing the joy of music with everyone.
The LSO performs some 70 concerts every year as Resident Orchestra at the Barbican, with its family of artists: Chief Conductor Sir Antonio Pappano, Conductor Emeritus Sir Simon Rattle, Principal Guest Conductors Gianandrea Noseda and François-Xavier Roth, Conductor Laureate Michael Tilson Thomas, and Associate Artists Barbara Hannigan and André J Thomas.
The LSO has major artistic residencies in Paris, Tokyo and at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, and a growing presence across Australasia.
Through LSO Discovery, the LSO’s learning and community programme, 60,000 people each year experience the transformative power of music. The Orchestra’s musicians are at the heart of this unique programme, leading workshops, mentoring bright young talent, and visiting schools, hospitals and community spaces. The home of much of this work is LSO St Luke’s, the LSO’s venue on Old Street. In 2025, following a programme of works, the LSO will open up the venue’s facilities to more people than ever before, with new state-of-the-art recording facilities and dedicated spaces for LSO Discovery.
The LSO’s record label LSO Live is a leader among orchestra-owned labels, bringing to life the excitement of a live performance in a catalogue of over 200 acclaimed recordings, and reaching millions through streaming services and online broadcasts. The LSO has been prolific in the studio since the infancy of orchestral recording, and has made more recordings than any other orchestra – over 2,500 projects to date – across film, video games and bespoke audio collaborations. Through inspiring music, learning programmes and digital innovations, the LSO’s reach extends far beyond the concert hall.
About Making A Maestro
Making A Maestro, is produced by Love Monday productions. Kerene Barefield serves as Executive Producer and Naveed Chowdhary-Flatt serves as Series Producer. The Commissioning Editor for Sky is Benedetta Pinelli.
About Sky Arts
Sky Arts exists to bring more art to more people across the UK. In 2020, with the creative industries under serious threat, we threw open our doors to make the channel free for everyone to watch. We’ve redoubled our mission to increase access to the arts and we’re committed to getting everyone involved. The fact is, we need the arts like never before, and Sky Arts brings them straight to your living room.