P R E S S I N F O R M A T I O N

“Nestlé and Festival Young Conductors Award” Prize Winner 2011: Ainārs Rubiķis

(Salzburg, August 11, 2011) – A high-carat, nine-member jury has selected the Latvian Ainārs Rubiķis from about 50 contenders for the 2011 “Nestlé and Young Conductors Award” after several qualification rounds. The jury‟s reason was that “Ainārs Rubiķis has distinguished himself through his ability and his virtuosity.”

The jury did not have an easy time making its selection, as the applicants were highly talented without exception. “Ultimately, it was Rubiķis‟ interpretational technique, which he displayed the Gulbenkian Orchestra, a partner of the „Nestlé and Salzburg Festival Young Conductors Award‟, in Johannes Brahms‟ Tragic Overture, which convinced the jury,” said Markus Hinterhäuser, Artistic Director of the Salzburg Festival and jury member.

Supporting Young Talents The competition “Nestlé and Salzburg Festival Young Conductors Award” was founded in 2010 and is an initiative of Nestlé and the Salzburg Festival in cooperation with the Youth Orchestra. The goal of the competition is to give highly talented young conductors a decisive impulse for their career. The winner was chosen by a renowned jury under the patronage of and the chairmanship of Franz Welser-Möst. Apart from the classical and romantic repertoire, the interpretation of contemporary works is an essential

NESTLÉ AND SALZBURG FESTIVAL YOUNG CONDUCTORS AWARD Project office: Angelika Svoboda | Museumstraße 3B/15 | 1070 | Tel +43 - 1 - 512 76 74-0 | Fax +43 - 1 - 512 76 74-20 | [email protected] | www.salzburgfestival.at/nestle_yca criterion. The prize carries a cash value of 15,000 Euros and is awarded every year to a young conductor aged 22 to 35.

Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, President of the Board of Directors at Nestlé, explains that this cooperation aims to create lasting and long-term values not only for his own company, but also for society as a whole: “A distinction like this award can make an important contribution to the career of a young conductor like Ainārs Rubiķis. In this way, we are able to support young talents and honor outstanding performances in an appropriate way.”

Ainārs Rubiķis, Winner of 2011 The 33-year old Ainārs Rubiķis came to international attention when he won the Third International Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition in Bamberg last year. This, however, is not the only award the successful Latvian conductor has won – he also received second prizes at the International Choral Conducting Competition in both in 2000 and in 2005, and at the Competition for Young Choral Conductors in Tallinn.

In Austria, he conducted several concerts as part of the Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival in 2010. Since 2008, Rubiķis has returned frequently to the , and he is also active as a singer and assistant conductor at the Latvian Radio Choir since 2006. During the 2005-2006 season, he directed the Flemish Radio Choir on its tour through Belgium and France.

During the past year, Rubiķis also celebrated his debuts with numerous renowned orchestras, for example the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonic Orchestras of Duisburg and , the Gulbenkian Orchestra, the Heidelberg Symphony and the Orchestre du Pays de la Loire. The young conductor will continue this series of debuts in the near future with the Orchestra, Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra; he also returns to the Gulbenkian Orchestra and conducts Kremerata Baltica.

Born in 1978 in Riga, Ainārs Rubiķis attended the local Cathedral Choral School and also took piano and violin lessons at the Emil Darzíns School, one of ‟s leading educational centers for young musicians. At the early age of 19, he took over his first conducting assignment with

Seite 2 von 4 the University Chorus in Riga. He studied choral and subsequently orchestral conducting at the Latvian Music Academy. He participated in master classes with Andris Vecumnieks, the Vice- Rector of the Latvian Music Academy, with Mariss Jansons and Zsolt Nagy.

“I am very pleased and honored to have won the 2011 Nestlé and Salzburg Festival Young Conductors Award. This prize has been a wonderful journey for me – just as Boulez writes, music is a „labyrinth… full of paths that have yet to be discovered.‟ I am looking forward to the fascinating concert program that I will conduct with the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra on Saturday at the Prize Winner‟s Concert at the Salzburg Festival,” the winner Ainārs Rubiķis declared.

The Prize Winner‟s Concert takes place on August 13, 2011 at 8:00 pm with the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra at the .

Program

Claude Debussy: Prelude á l'apres-midi d'un faune

Dmitri Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No. 2

Benjamin Britten: Four Sea Interludes

Igor Stravinsky: Firebird (1919)

Soloist: Alisa Weilerstein, Cello

Jury for the “Nestlé and Salzburg Festival Young Conductors Award”

Pierre Boulez, Patron Franz Welser-Möst, Jury Chairman, Music Director of the , General Music Director of the Vienna Peter Alward, Managing Artistic Director, Salzburg Easter Festival Andreas Bausdorf, Associate Managing Director of the German Orchestra Association (DOV) Lorenzo Fasolo, former Artistic Director, Ferrara Musica and Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, Artistic Consultant, Lingotto Musica Markus Hinterhäuser, Artistic Director, Salzburg Festival

Seite 3 von 4 Brian McMaster, former Director of the Edinburgh International Festival Alexander Meraviglia-Crivelli, General Secretary, Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra Luís Pereira Leal, Senior Advisor to the music department of the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian , Pianist

Application Criteria

1. Curriculum Vitae, including photograph 2. DVD, including written statement on the interpretation of the work performed (outlining personal approach) 3. Complete repertoire list, with special emphasis on works of the 20th and 21st centuries 4. List of realized projects 5. List of future projects and plans 6. References

For further information please contact:

„Nestlé and Salzburg Festival Young Conductors Award“ Project Office Mag. Angelika Svoboda Museumstrasse 3B/15 1070 Vienna, Austria T +43-1-512 76 74 F +43-1-512 76 74-20 [email protected] www.svobodapr.at

Photomaterial www.wildbild.at Bilddatenbank -> Partnerzugang ID:10186 password:nestle

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