Notes from the Fires
News from Japan, South Korea, Switzerland, USA and UK
A relatively new music competition, established in 2024 in Minato City, Central Tokyo, Japan, is currently accepting applications for 'Cello 2025'. The organisers of the Tokyo Minato City International Music Competition and Workshop (TMCIMC) claim that this is one of Japan's largest classical music competitions. The final round takes place in Suntory Hall, and the first prizewinner will receive five million Japanese yen - approximately 35,000 US dollars, 31,000 Euros or 26,000 British pounds.
The Competition is open to people of all nationalities who were born between 1995 and 2009. All applicants must be aged at least sixteen and must not have reached the age of thirty-one on the first day of the competition - 25 September 2025. Competition applicants may not be rejected on any ideological, linguistic, political, religious or racial grounds. The application deadline for the competition's 2025 Cello Section is quite soon - 30 May 2025.
Further information: tmcimc.jp/en/cello/2025.html
Another new competition, the 2025 Andong Global Young Artist Competition, will take place in Andong, South Korea, this year. The organisers have arranged a jury, mostly from Europe, and they aim to discover and foster young classical music talent from around the world. Applicants must be aged between twenty and thirty-five - born between 1990 and 2005. Applications (on a form downloaded from the Andong Culture & Arts Center website) can be completed in Korean or English, and should be made by email. There are three categories - vocal music, piano and orchestral music - and applications are free of charge. The competition will take place between 1 and 5 July 2025.
Publicity for the 2025 Andong Global Young Artist Competition
Applications will be accepted from 2-13 June 2025 only, so you may have to wait before downloading the application form from (presumably) andongmice.or.kr
Meanwhile in Geneva, Switzerland, thirty-eight viola players have already been selected to compete in the seventy-ninth Concours de Genève, from ninety-one applicants. This year, there is a 50/50 ratio of men to women performing in the online recital. Seventeen of the thirty-eight candidates are from Europe, thirteen from Asia, seven from the Americas and one is from Africa. The competition was open to viola players born after 12 November 1995, with the average age being 23.5 years old. Candidates' ages range from fourteen to twenty-eight.
Concours de Genève 2025 - viola candidates
The first official round of this year's Viola Competition will be an online recital taking place between 8 and 14 September 2025. This can be streamed on Concours de Genève's YouTube channel, as well as on amadeus.tv and theviolinchannel.com
The main competition takes place from 31 October until 12 November 2025 and also includes round one of the 2025-26 conducting competition. Further information: concoursgeneve.ch
Classical California is America's largest listener-supported public media organisation for classical music, dedicated to making everyday life more harmonious, by producing on-air and in-person music experiences.
The organisation's latest initiative is Notes from the Fires, a new weekly series highlighting resilience and recovery after the Palisades and Eaton Fires, and part of ongoing wildfire support efforts across Los Angeles County.
Notes from the Fires follows musicians, composers, teachers and instrument makers whose lives and livelihoods were upended by the January 2025 Palisades and Eaton fires. Each three to five minute episode features one central story of loss and resilience, paired with a piece of music that connects to the interviewee's journey. American journalist and broadcaster John Rabe hosts the series, shining a light on the often-unseen figures behind the music, what classical music means to them today, and the power of art to help communities rebuild.
Listen to Notes from the Fires here: kusc.org/tags/notes-from-the-fires and read more about Classical California here: classicalcalifornia.org
The Association of British Orchestras (ABO) announced today, 8 May 2025, the next phase of its new public engagement initiative 'An Orchestra in Every School', which aims to enable access for children and young people to live music making. As part of the initiative, UK orchestras and ensembles, in collaboration with schools and music teachers, will set out to deliver over a thousand live music making opportunities in 2025, with the aim of giving over one million children and young people the opportunity to experience the joy and power of live music, no matter their school resources, abilities or disability.
Logo for the ABO's An Orchestra in Every School initiative
The ABO is calling on the UK's Government to pledge its support for providing access to live music making for all children and young people. This pledge would take the form of a statutory minimum of two hours of active music making every week for all children and young people until the age of sixteen, and for all schools to have access to live music making.
Recent reports have noted that 42% of secondary schools in the UK no longer offer music as an examination subject, and that the current UK Government inherited a shortfall of GBP 161.4 million in its music education budget. Judith Webster, the ABO's chief executive, comments:
The sobering statistics found in recent research highlight why 'An Orchestra in Every School' is crucial. We know that making music as a group improves focus, enhances mood and strengthens social bonds, and there is such a powerful emotion that comes from experiencing a live performance. That is why it's our aspiration for every school in the UK to either have an orchestra of its own - however they define that - or access to live music making.
The ABO represents the collective interests of professional orchestras, youth ensembles and the wider classical music industry throughout the UK. Further information: abo.org.uk
Posted 8 May 2025 by Keith Bramich
