The 96th edition of Concurso Juventudes Musicales (JM Spain) was held at the Royal Superior Conservatory of Music in Madrid from 22nd to 23rd of February.
This edition instruments category were Guitar and Strings. The final was especially disputed because among the four finalists who took part in it, there was less than one point of difference in the jury votes. The winner was also the youngest participant, the violinist Miquel Muñiz Galdón (Riudarenes, Girona, 2001). This result is also impressive since the last time a violinist won the String Prize was in 2010 Miguel Colom. After him it always was won by cellists.
The Second Prize went to cellist Jorge Gresa Ostos (Seville, 1995) and the Third Prize went to cellists Laura Peribañez Artero (Molins de Rei, Barcelona, 1995) and Pablo Pérez Martínez (Madrid, 1995).
In the category Guitar the First Prize went to Álvaro Toscano Román (Córdoba, 1997), who was already a finalist in 2018. The Second Prize went to the Korean Seunghyeok Choi (Seoul, 1999) and the Third Prize to Miguel Checa Paz (Madrid, 1998).
All the finalists of both modalities were beneficiaries of the Bärenreiter prize, official sponsor of the contest.
Photo Credit © Harold Abellan Photographer
The jury was composed of the composer Jesús Rueda as president, guitarists Pedro Mateo and Gonzalo Noqué, violinist Aitor Hevia and bassist Luis Cabrera as vocals, in addition the cultural manager Antonio Martín as secretary without vote-right. In the awards ceremony, the president of JM Spain, Miquel Cuenca, wanted to highlight: the high level demonstrated by the participants, a fact that reaffirms once again the overabundance of musical talent that Spain lives in the last five years, and accommodate to all this talent and to avoid its escape constitutes a challenge for our country (“el alto nivel demostrado por los participantes, hecho que reafirma una vez más la sobreabundancia de talento musical que vive España en los últimos lustros, y dar cabida a todo este talento y evitar su fuga constituye un reto para nuestro país.”)
The winners of the Concurso Juventudes Musicales received concert tours as a prize through the JM Spain Music Network circuit in addition to various national and international promotional activities (international tours through the network of Jeunesses Musicales International, of which JM Spain is part).
The Concurso Juventudes Musicales has three calls per year, and it is the only one at the national level that summons all the instruments of classical music, ancient music and jazz. The next call, the 97th edition, will be held from June 26 to 28, 2020 again at the Royal Higher Conservatory of Music of Madrid (RCSMM), this time for piano players.
Sources: JM website
Photo Credit © Harold Abellan Photographer
