Participants Announced for the Solti International Conducting Competition
16 July 2026
On 1 October 2026, the inaugural Solti International Conducting Competition, organised by Müpa Budapest, will get under way. Applications were received from 61 countries for the three-round competition, with nearly 400 young conductors taking part in the preliminary selection process. Following the assessment of the submitted video recordings, 24 competitors have now been selected to advance to the live preliminary round in Pécs.
The Solti International Conducting Competition offers conductors aged between 18 and 35 and from all over the world a unique opportunity to show their talent. Based on the submitted video recordings, the preliminary jury selected the following 24 competitors, including four young Hungarian conductors: Sebastian Almanzar, Yael Avivi, Francesco Cagnasso, Célia Nashely Cano, Oliver Cope, Virgil Fok Chin Wai, Fernando Gaggini, Oren Gross Thaler, Belián Hámori, Nathanaël Iselin, Yukuang Jin, Sukjong Kim, Sungjin Kim, Yuji Maruoka, Jesús Ortega Martínez, Matthew Rhodes, Fedor Rudin, Simon Schmied, Apor Szüts, Drummado Wijnhamer, Trevor Wilson, Yu-Te Wu, Viktor Záray, and Levente Zsiros.
The 24 competitors will first take the stage in the preliminary round, held between 1 and 4 October 2026 in the Concert Hall of the Kodály Centre in Pécs, where they will perform with the Pannon Philharmonic. The ten contestants to advance to the semi-finals will prove themselves on 5–6 October 2026 in the Grand Hall of the Liszt Academy in Budapest, conducting the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and working with such brilliant soloists as Emőke Baráth, Barna Bartos, Csilla Boross, Mária Celeng and Károly Szemerédy. On 9 October, the four finalists will compete in the final at Müpa Budapest together with the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra.
At the gala concert on 10 October in the Béla Bartók National Concert Hall, the international jury chaired by Pinchas Steinberg will announce which of the four finalists won the competition. The winner of the audience prize will also be revealed on the same evening.
Admission to both the preliminary rounds in Pécs and the semi-finals at the Liszt Academy are free of charge. Attendance at the semi-finals, however, requires registration. Further information about the registration process and conditions will be announced by the organisers shortly. Tickets for the final and the gala concert are already on sale.
Find out more about the competitors of the Solti International Conducting Competition!
