
Since its founding in 2009, the Heidelberger Frühling Wettbewerb “Das Lied” has discovered a multitude of talents and given the starting signal for promising careers through its support in the form of prize money, concert appearances, media presence and networking in the international song scene. Quite a few of the former participants are now among the established singers of their generation and can be seen regularly on the world’s great stages. These include soprano Nikola Hillebrand, baritones Jóhann Kristinsson, Manuel Walser, Martin Häßler, Benjamin App, Samuel Hasselhorn and pianist Ammiel Bushakevitz. Many of the former participants continue to be closely associated with Heidelberger Frühling and its Liedzentrum and perform at festivals and LABs, develop joint song projects, or pass on their knowledge in master classes.
The finale took place on February 10, 2019 at Theater Heidelberg. The 1st prize of 15,000 euros, donated by the Manfred Lautenschläger Foundation, went to soprano Nikola Hillebrand from Germany. The 2nd prize of 10,000 euros was shared by mezzo-soprano Yajie Zhang from China and baritone Konstantin Krimmel from Germany. Konstantin Krimmel also received the audience prize of 2,000 euros. The 3rd prize of 5,000 euros went to baritone Michael Rakotoarivony from Madagascar. The sponsorship prize of 2,500 euros, donated by the Freundeskreis Heidelberger Frühling e.V., was awarded to the bass-baritone Jeeyoung Lim from South Korea. In absentia, Matthew Fletcher from Great Britain was awarded the title of best pianist of the competition and 5,000 euros in prize money.
The competition jury included Thomas Quasthoff (chair), Juliane Banse, John Gilhooly, Charlotte Lehmann, Helga Machreich, Malcolm Martineau, Thorsten Schmidt and Richard Stokes.
The vocal repertoire included songs by Johannes Brahms, Hugo Wolf, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Charles Ives and Wilhelm Killmayer.
All rounds of the 2019 competition were broadcast live on Youtube. To the playlist
The finale took place on Saturday, March 4, 2017 in the Stadthalle Heidelberg. The 1st prize, endowed with 15,000 euros, donated by the Manfred Lautenschläger Foundation, went to the baritone Samuel Hasselhorn from Germany. The 2nd prize and 7,500 euros went to the US mezzo-soprano Clara Osowski. Two awards were given to baritone Jóhann Kristinsson from Iceland: the 3rd prize (5,000 euros) and the audience prize, which was originally unendowed, but got spontaneously endowed with 5,000 euros by an anonymous sponsor. The baritones André Baleiro from Portugal and Modestas Sedlevicius from Lithuania received promotional prizes (2,500 euros), and the best pianists were Spain’s Victoria Guerrero and Ukraine’s Anna Anstett (2,500 euros).
The jury included Thomas Quasthoff (chair), Brigitte Fassbaender, Bernada Fink, John Gilhooly, Charlotte Lehmann, Felicity Lott, Helga Machreich, Dominique Meyer and Richard Stokes.
The vocal repertoire included songs by Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann and Wolfgang Rihm.
All rounds of the 2017 competition were broadcast live on Youtube. To the playlist
The Israeli mezzo-soprano Hagar Sharvit prevailed in the final, which took place on Sunday February 22, 2015 at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin. She received a scholarship worth a total of 30,000 euros and was also awarded the audience prize. The second prize of 15,000 euros went to the Australian soprano Emma Moore. The third prize of 7,500 euros went to Angharad Lyddon (alto) from Wales. The pianist prize of 10,000 euros was shared by Ammiel Bushakevitz and James Sherlock. The promotional prize of 5,000 euros went to the soprano Suzanne Fischer (born 1987).
The jury included Thomas Quasthoff (chair), Brigitte Fassbaender, John Gilhooly, Helga Machreich-Unterzaucher, Dominique Meyer, Charles Spencer and Richard Stokes.
The vocal repertoire included songs by Franz Schubert, Benjamin Britten and Robert Franz.
The award winners include Manuel Walser, Annelie Sophie Müller, Nathalie Mittelbach, Sunyoung Seo, Jonathan Ware, Annika Gerhards, Amira Elmadfa, Martin Häßler, Anna Huntley, David Pichlmaier, James Baillieu, Aarne Pelkonen, Juho Alakärppä, Benjamin Appl, Tobias Berndt from Germany, Seil Kim, Daniel Schmutzhard, Alexander Fleischer, Gary Matthewman, James Baillieu, Jan Martinik.