Kissinger KlavierOlymp

The 21st Piano Olympus will take place from 5 to 8 October 2023

Since 2003, the KlavierOlymp has offered a podium for young pianists in Bad Kissingen, Germany's most famous spa town. This year, for the 20th time, six outstanding young talents from six nations will present themselves to an expert jury and the interested public, who will award three prizes and an audience prize. In addition, performances are guaranteed as part of the Kissinger Sommer 2023. The KlavierOlymp will take place from 6 to 9 October 2022.

A few days ago, the Kissinger Sommer, the international music festival in the world heritage city, where the most renowned artists thrilled the audience on the orchestra and chamber music podiums of the magnificent halls, came to an end.

With the KlavierOlymp, the Kissingen festival season traditionally gets an autumnal encore on the first weekend in October. The competition was launched in 2003 and will be held for the 20th time in 2022. The aim of the KlavierOlymp is to discover the next generation of pianists. Every year, six highly talented young pianists aged 27 or younger are invited to Bad Kissingen to perform a solo recital of their own choice in the magnificent Rossini Hall - named after the Italian composer who took a cure there in 1856 - and a joint final concert in the Max Littmann Hall, one of the best concert halls in the world. The participants have all already won competitions at home and abroad and are at the beginning of a promising career.

Three prizes will be awarded by a jury of experts, one by the audience who have attended all the concerts. The successful participants of the competition can then be experienced in the programme of the Kissinger Sommer of the following year on the one hand, and on the other hand they are supported on their career path through cooperation with other organisers and the arrangement of further performances. The fact that there are always tomorrow's stars to be discovered here is impressively demonstrated by names such as Behzod Abduraimov, Kit Armstrong, Kirill Gerstein, Martin Helmchen, Igor Levit, Alice Sara Ott, Herbert Schuch or Anna Vinnitskaya, who are among the former winners of the competition and who today win over audiences on the world's stages.

Contestants 2022

In October 2022, pianists from six countries will compete for the Kissinger KlavierOlymp: Lukas Sternath (Austria), Lauren Zhang (USA), Roman Borisov (Russia), Suah Ye (South Korea), Ariel Lanyi (Israel) and Tony Siqi Yun (Canada).

Jurors 2022

The five-member jury consists of Thomas Ahnert (music critic "Saale-Zeitung", dramaturge and co-founder of the KlavierOlymp), Manuel Brug (music critic "Die Welt"), Ulrich Hauschild (concert dramaturge), Sonia Simmenauer (Managing Director Impresariat Simmenauer) and Alexander Steinbeis (Artistic Director Kissinger Sommer).

The KlavierOlymp is sponsored by the city of Bad Kissingen and co-financed by members of the Kissinger Sommer Friends Association. The competition is supported by the Hotel Kaiserhof Victoria and sponsored by the district of Lower Franconia. The final concert on 9 October in the Max Littmann Hall will be recorded and broadcast on the radio programmes of BR Klassik and Deutschlandfunk Kultur.

On 3 October, the jury and the audience chose the winners of the KlavierOlymp 2021. This year's winner of the competition for young pianists in Bad Kissingen, Germany's most famous spa town, is Giorgi Gigashvili. This year, for the 19th time, six outstanding young talents from five nations presented themselves to an expert jury and the interested public, who awarded three prizes and an audience prize.

Sandro Nebieridze, also from Georgia, was awarded second prize. The jury was impressed by his crystal-clear, virtuoso creative power. The third prize was awarded to 26-year-old Gustav Piekut from Denmark. The audience prize was also awarded to Giorgi Gigashvili. Other pianists in the competition were Dmytro Choni (Ukraine), Josefa Schmidt (Germany) and Xiaolu Zang (China).

On the one hand, the successful participants of the competition can be experienced in the programme of the Kissinger Sommer 2022, on the other hand, they will be supported on their career path through cooperation with other organisers and the arrangement of further performances. The final concert of the KlavierOlymps was recorded by Bayerischer Rundfunk and has been broadcast BR-Klassik.

As part of the Kissinger KlavierOlymp 2021, six highly talented young pianists aged 20 to 28 from five countries presented themselves to the audience and a jury of four, consisting of Manuel Brug (music critic Die Welt), Ulrich Hauschild (manager Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks), Sonia Simmenauer (managing director Impresariat Simmenauer) and Alexander Steinbeis (artistic director Kissinger Sommer). The solo recitals with programmes of their own choice took place in the Rossini Hall, the joint final concert in the Max Littmann Hall in Bad Kissingen.

Despite restrictions due to the Corona pandemic, the 19th Kissinger KlavierOlymp was able to continue its successful concept again this year and, with almost 1,500 tickets sold, to inspire numerous concert guests for the young pianists. This corresponds to an increase in concert attendance of 30% compared to the previous record year of 2019.