From a total of 131 applications from all over the world, 27 singers and 24 accompanying pianists were admitted to participate in the Heidelberger Frühling Wettbewerb "Das Lied" from March 1 to 5, 2023 in Heidelberg.
14 singers passed the First Round and were admitted to the Semifinale together with their accompanying pianists. Seven of them were admitted to compede in the big Finale.
The 2023 Prize Winner are:
1st Prize (12,500 euros each) Tenors Laurence Kilsby and Tae Hwan Yun
2nd Prize was not awarded
3rd Prize (7,500 euros) Soprano Alexandra Flood
Audience Award (2,500 euros, donated by the Freundeskreis des Heidelberger Frühling e.V.) Baritone Lars Conrad
Prize for Liedpianist (5,000 euros, donated by Christa Tonnecker) Pianist Yuhao Guo
The competition repertoire contained selected songs by Aribert Reimann, Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann and Viktor Ullmann. In addition to Thomas Quasthoff, founder of the competition, the top-class jury included James Taylor, Richard Stokes, Juliane Banse, Bernada Fink, John Gilhooly, Justus Zeyen, James Baillieu and Helga Machreich-Unterzaucher. All competition round and the prize ceremony were streamed live and are still available online.