Prestigious Eric Ericson Award for Young Choral Conductors 2024 opens for applications
Applications are open as of today for the Eric Ericson Award, a prestigious international competition for young choral conductors. The event will take place at the Swedish Radio Concert Hall Berwaldhallen on 23–26 October 2024, the finalists are invited to conduct the Swedish Radio Choir. The total amount awarded is SEK 150,000 and the winner will lead several prominent radio choirs within the EBU over the coming concert seasons. This makes the Eric Ericson Award the most prestigious competition for choral conductors in the world. The competition is arranged by the Swedish Radio, in collaboration with the Royal Swedish Academy of Music.
Eric Ericson, left, and Krista Audere, the most recent winner of the Eric Ericson Award.
More than 90 young conductors from all over the world applied for the Eric Ericson Award in 2021. Eight finalists were selected in Stockholm, and the competition was won by Latvian conductor Krista Audere.
”The Eric Ericson Award has a life-changing ability for any choir conductor. There is one competition where there is a guaranteed success as and a complete change to your professional career. Eric Ericson Award has made all the difference for me!” says Krista Audere, winner of the Eric Ericson Award 2021.
”This award is our way of encouraging young, talented conductors to work in the spirit of Eric Ericson – with a passion for tradition as well as curiosity in exploring contemporary music. Today, the Swedish Radio commissions more new music than anyone else in Sweden. This is a way for us to support a strong regeneration of choral music and choral conductors,” says Staffan Becker, General Manager of the Swedish Radio Concert Hall, Berwaldhallen.
”Eric Ericson consolidated Sweden’s position as a singing nation through his extraordinary gift for choral conducting. The Eric Ericson Award upholds this tradition and offers a new generation of choral conductors a chance of pursuing an international career. The Royal Academy of Music are proud of hosting this award,” says Susanne Rydén, President of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music.
The Eric Ericson Award jury includes world-renowned names such as its chairman, Justin Doyle, Swedish Radio Choir Chief Conductor Kaspars Putniņš and the previous winner, Krista Audere. The winning conductor will lead a long list of choirs within the European Broadcasting Union, among them are the BBC Singers, Choeur de Radio France, RIAS Kammerchor Berlin and the Netherlands Radio Choir.
Eric Ericson was chief conductor of the Swedish Radio Choir for over 30 years, between 1951 and 1982; his services to Swedish and international choral singing cannot be overstated. By premiering works by contemporary composers, many of them written for him and the Radio Choir, he opened a new dimension for how a choir can sound and be led. During his career he also taught choral conducting at the Royal Swedish Academy of Music where he fostered several generations of young conductors. His extensive international guest appearances as a teacher and conductor earned him acknowledgement as one of the great role models in choral conducting.
The Rosenborg Gehrman Foundation has contributed the amount awarded of SEK 150.000 of which the winner receives SEK 100.000 and SEK 25.000 is shared between the other two finalists. Previous laureates are Krista Audere (2021), Kjetil Almenning (2009), Martina Batič (2006) and Peter Dijkstra (2003). The Eric Eric Ericson Award is arranged with support from the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
Applications for the Eric Ericson Award 2024 are open from today, 15 May 2023, until 1 March 2024 via ericericsonaward.se. Choral conductors up to the age of 35 are welcome to apply.
For press information, please contact
Karl Thorson
Press- & PR-ansvarig / Press & PR Manager
Berwaldhallen | Sveriges Radios Symfoniorkester | Radiokören
karl.thorson@sverigesradio.se
08-784 18 30 | 070-431 18 93
Sveriges Radios konserthus Berwaldhallen
SE-105 10 Stockholm, Sweden
Besök/Visiting address Dag Hammarskjöldsväg 3
berwaldhallen.se
