A 32-year-old Chinese conductor has taken top honours at this year’s International Conductors' Competition Sir Georg Solti. Daye Lin was named the winner of the sixth biennial event in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Daniel Smith, 30, from Australia took second prize, with third place going to Brandon Keith Brown, 31, from the USA.
Whittled down from 405 entrants from 70 countries, the final trio each conducted the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra in their bid to win first prize.
All three tackled the second suite from Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé, as well as an overture, decided by drawing lots. Lin’s performance of the Overture to Johann Strauss’s Die Fledermaus helped him scoop the £11,900 (€15,000) prize money.
After studying in Berlin, in recent years Lin has held posts with the Guangzhou and Shanghai-Tianshan Symphony Orchestras.
The competition is run by several artistic organisations in Frankfurt, where Sir Georg Solti was at the helm of the opera between 1952-1961.
His legacy also includes the Solti Foundation, which offers grants to young professionals; the Georg Solti Accademia in Italy, a course for singers and répétiteurs; and the World Orchestra for Peace, an occasional ensemble bringing together the world’s top musicians to act as ambassadors for peace.
Sir Georg Solti’s 100th anniversary is celebrated in the November issue of BBC Music Magazine, on sale now.
