ARD music competition with record number of applicants
519 musicians and ensembles have applied for this year's ARD International Music Competition. This is the highest number of entries in the history of this traditional competition. Only three participants from Switzerland or with a direct connection to Switzerland are among those accepted.
In the cello category, the competition will be contested by Swiss musicians Chiara Enderle (Migros Culture Percentage soloist 2014), Sayaka Selina Studer (multiple Migros Culture Percentage study prize winner) and Laura van der Heijden from the UK with a Swiss mother (BBC Young Musician of the Year 2012).
A total of 312 applicants were accepted by the preliminary jury for the 63rd edition. This year's categories are piano, cello, percussion and wind quintet. The applications came from 50 countries and five continents. 312 of the instrumentalists have been invited to take part in Munich. South Korea tops the list of countries applying in 2014, followed by Germany, Japan, Russia, France, Spain, the USA, China and Poland.
The competition starts on Monday, September 1 in Munich. A total of more than 165,000 euros in prize money is available this year, consisting of the main prizes from ARD and the special prizes awarded by foundations and institutions.
