Baritone and alumni of the Heidelberger Frühling Liedakademie convinced at the final concert of the Heidelberger Frühling Musikfestival

For the first time, Heidelberger Frühling hosted the final concert of the BDI's Music Prize of German Business, which took place on April 6 in the auditorium of the New University of Heidelberg. The finalists - violinist Clarissa Bevilacqua, recorder player Tabea Wink and baritone Jonas Müller - gave an outstanding concert. The latter is already well known to Heidelberg audiences as a fellow of the Heidelberger Frühling Liedakademie 2022/23 under the artistic direction of Thomas Hampson. At the Heidelberger Frühling Musikfestival 2024, he was the soloist in the Brahms Requiem with the KlangForum Heidelberg and in the Liedfestival 2024 with Brahms Lieder. In the same year, he made his opera debut as "Adonis" at "Winter in Schwetzingen".

The finalists were accompanied by the Ensemble Resonanz under the direction of Gregor A. Mayrhofer. Particularly noteworthy was the innovative mix of different eras and styles in the concert concepts developed by the finalists themselves.

After intensive deliberation, the jury decided to award the German Business Music Prize 2025 to baritone Jonas Müller. The prize comes with 15,000 euros and numerous performances as part of the Kulturkreis tour. In addition to Heidelberger Frühling, these include other renowned festivals in German-speaking countries such as the Beethovenfest Bonn, the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and the Rheingau Music Festival. The Kulturkreis tour is supported by G. Henle Verlag, the Peter Klöckner Foundation and Dr. Arend Oetker.

The jury justified its decision as follows:

"Jonas Müller convinced with his programme 'Trost im Unglück' (Comfort in Misfortune) with a dramaturgically densely developed arc and an impressive examination of social issues."

The jury was chaired by Prof. Dr. Tobias Wollermann and consisted of artistic directors and artistic directors of the partner festivals as well as consultants:

Christiane Weber (Lucerne Festival)
Ursula Haselböck (Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern)
Maria-Luisa Villena Ossa (Ludwigsburg Castle Festival)
Thorsten Schmidt (Heidelberger Frühling)
Anselm Cybinski (Heidelberger Frühling)
Steven Walter (Beethovenfest Bonn)
Dr. Anette Semrau (Beethovenfest Bonn)
Michael Herrmann (Rheingau Music Festival)
Timo Buckow (Rheingau Music Festival)
Prof. Nils Mönkemeyer, Consultant
Prof. Steven Sloane, Consultant
Representatives of the music committee (Kulturkreis der deutschen Wirtschaft)

Further information on the music prize