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Donatella Flick Conducting Competition
Young European conductors are invited to apply for the December 2025 competition in London
The Donatella Flick Conducting Competition, created by Donatella Flick in 1990, and known colloquially as 'The Flick', aims to help a young conductor establish an international conducting career, bridging the gap between conservatoire training and professional life. The 2025 Donatella Flick Conducting Competition will take place between Tuesday 2 December and Thursday 4 December 2025 at LSO St Luke's in London UK, with the London Symphony Orchestra.
The winner will be awarded GBP 15,000 and will also have the opportunity to become assistant conductor with the London Symphony Orchestra for one year.
To allow viewers from around the globe to view the final stages of the competition and to see the winner announced live, the competition's final round will be streamed live on medici.tv
Previous winners, whose careers have been boosted by the competition, include Elim Chan, Alexandre Bloch and François-Xavier Roth. Nicolò Foron, who won first prize in the seventeenth Donatella Flick Conducting Competition in 2023, said:
Taking part in the competition was such an incredible experience, and my time as assistant conductor with the LSO continues to be truly invaluable. For aspiring conductors, participating in the Donatella Flick LSO Conducting Competition is not just an opportunity - it's a gateway to a thrilling future in the world of classical music and I can't recommend it more highly!
Nicolò Foron in rehearsal at the seventeenth Donatella Flick Conducting Competition. Photo © 2023 Mark Allan
Antonio Pappano will chair the jury for the first time for the 2025 competition. He will be joined by other musicians including composer and conductor James MacMillan, conductors Sian Edwards and Kirill Karabits, and LSO musicians Sarah Quinn and Rachel Gough.
Antonio Pappano comments:
After being involved with the competition for a few years now, it's an honour to be chairing such an esteemed jury for 2025. I want to extend my thanks to Donatella Flick for bringing us together, and for her great vision and longstanding provision of such an invaluable opportunity for the next generation of conductors. To all conductors who are eligible to take part, I strongly encourage you to apply, and I look forward to hearing your work and possibly working with you ...
Donatella Flick was born as Princess Donatella Missikoff of Ossetia. She is an award-winning Italian philanthropist who studied philosophy at the University of Rome, founded the Donatella Flick Conducting Competition in 1990 and also supports various medical charities. In 2002 she received the Wilhelm Furtwängler Prize, specifically for her encouragement of young conductors.
Donatella Flick
She writes:
I'm delighted that we are underway for the eighteenth LSO Conducting Competition. After thirty-five years, I am constantly impressed by the talent, dedication and creativity of those who take part in the competition and I'm sure this year will be no exception. I hope that young conductors will be inspired to apply to share their talent with us, and I look forward to meeting successful applicants in London ...
The competition is open to conductors who will be aged thirty or under on Thursday 4 December 2025 who are citizens of countries having full membership of the European Union or of Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway, Switzerland or the UK. The deadline for applications is 3 April 2025. From the applications received, twenty conductors will be selected by a panel to enter round 1; a jury then selects ten of these for round 2. From these, three finalists will be chosen for the final round.
Participants are asked to prepare all repertoire. For rounds 1 and 2 they will be told their repertoire immediately before taking the stage. The three finalists' repertoire and running order will be drawn by lot at the end of round 2.
Further information: donatellaflickcompetition.com
Posted 26 January 2025 by Keith Bramich
