International Commerzbank Chamber Music Award 2008

Awards ceremony 2008

„Quality is the winner“ was the headline in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. This could have been suffixed with "twice over" given that third place on the podium remained empty at the 1st International Commerzbank Chamber Music Prize, which took place in mid-September in the Alte Oper in Frankfurt. By awarding first prize to two participants, the competition for piano trios set the bar very high for future events. "The jury decided not to award a third place - this is testament to the high level of performance we have seen today," explained Martin Kohlhaussen, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Commerzbank Foundation.

Amazing appetizer of artistic ability

Before the awards ceremony, the three finalist ensembles had each showcased a 90-minute program of chamber music to the audience and the prominent jury chaired by Julia Fischer. The two first-prize winners, the French Dali Piano Trio featuring Vineta Sareika (violin), Christian-Pierre La Marca (cello) and Amandine Savary (piano) and the English Sitkovetsky Trio with Alexander Sitkovetsky (violin), Leonard Elschenbroich (cello) and Wu Qian (piano), each received prize money of EUR 15,000.

The second prize of EUR 6,000 went to the German Trio Monte from the Frankfurt School for Music and Performing Arts with Ana Rachel Feitosa (violin), Claude Frochaux (cello) and Anca Lupu (piano). After the awards ceremony, the winning ensembles gave another amazing appetizer of their ability, which the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung described as a "tour de force".

The jury was made up as follows:

Julia Fischer, Chair (violin)
Andreas Röhn, (violin)
Prof. Michael Sanderling, (cello)
Daniel Müller- Schott, (cello)
Christopher Elton, (piano)
Márian Lapšanský, (piano)
and conductor and pianist
Yakov Kreizberg

The competition is organized by the Commerzbank Foundation in cooperation with the Frankfurt Alter Oper and the Frankfurt School for Music and Performing Arts and will take place every two years.
The 2nd International Commerzbank Chamber Music Prize is scheduled to take place between September 13 and September 19, 2010.