2025-12-02

Today, 2 December, marks the start of the 18th edition of one of Europe's most prestigious conducting competitions: the Donatella Flick – London Symphony Orchestra Conducting Competition. Grażyna Bacewicz's Concerto for String Orchestra is among the repertoire as an obligatory piece.

Twenty young conductors from various European countries are about to begin presenting their artistic skills while working with the LSO. Half of the candidates will advance to the second stage, while only three will remain in the final. The winner will receive a prize of £15,000 and the opportunity to serve as assistant conductor of the LSO for one season.

Sir Antonio Pappano, chairman of the jury, recommended Grażyna Bacewicz's Concerto for String Orchestra for this year's repertoire. The candidates will work on excerpts from this piece today during the first stage. As part of the Competition's collaboration with the PWM Edition, the jury members received dedicated scores of the Bacewicz’s Concerto.

Two Polish conductors, Julia Kurzydlak and Piotr Jaworski, are among the participants in this year's competition. Poles have already achieved significant success in the history of the competition: in 2006, Michał Dworzyński won the tenth edition, while in the previous, seventeenth edition, Jakub Przybycień was one of the three finalists.

The eighteenth competition is being filmed for a new Sky Arts series entitled ‘Making A Maestro’, which will be broadcast in spring 2026. The programme will follow the competition, accompanying the participants and jurors to highlight the role of the conductor and the emotions accompanying the dynamic artistic presentations.