Carl Nielsen Competition Announces 2022 Plans

Taking place from March 31 to April 10, 2022, the competition will feature a new mentorship program for participants

The Carl Nielsen Competition, in Odense, Denmark, announced its plans for next year’s competition, which will include categories for violin, clarinet, and flute.

In addition to the competition itself, next year’s program will feature another component, Espansiva! — an expanded offering of mentorship and coaching designed to better equip competition participants for their musical careers, with an emphasis on musicians’ mental and physical health.

"The world has changed, and this means that as competition organizers we should also adapt," competition president Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider said. "While our priority is of course to find the brightest and most talented young musicians of today, we also feel it is vital to create an off-stage experience that benefits all the participants who come to Odense."

He added that the expansion hopes to build on a festival-like atmosphere he felt during the 2019 competition and, through Espansiva!, create "an accompanying platform where the participants have an opportunity to meet their future colleagues and the music world’s movers and shakers, all in an informal and relaxed setting."­

The jury for next year’s competitions will include violinist Noah Bendix-Balgley, flutist Karl-Heinz Schültz, and clarinetist Yehuda Gilad, — with flutist Emmanuel Pahud and clarinetist Martin Fröst as artistic advisors. Because Szeps-Znaider now holds a part-time professorship at the Danish Royal Academy of Music, he will step down from his position as Jury Head and instead transition to roles in leading workshops and conducting the finals of the violin competition.

Applications for violinists, clarinetists, and flutists under the age of 30 will be open from August 15 to October 21, 2021. First prize winners will receive €12,000 and an Orchid Classics recording with the Odense Symphony Orchestra. 

More information, including application requirements and a full list of jury members, can be found on the competition’s website.