Every two years, LUCERNE FESTIVAL, the Conference of Swiss Universities of Music (KMHS), and the Credit Suisse Foundation award the Prix Credit Suisse Jeunes Solistes, which comes with a cash award of CHF 25,000, to highly talented musicians studying in Switzerland. The eventual winners are selected over the course of several rounds that culminate in a final round in which the contestants must present themselves to a jury of experts. The competition for 2019 has chosen Marianna Bednarska as the winner. Born in 1993, the Polish percussionist is currently completing her training in Philippe Spiesser’s class at the Haute École de Musique in Geneva. When she played works by Iannis Xenakis, Michael Jarrell, and Johann Sebastian Bach at her audition, she immediately won the jury over. Her international career is already well under way: Bednarska has previously won 21 competitions and has concertized throughout Europe and, with the International Chamber Orchestra of Washington, in the U.S. She has also released recordings, including of her account of all four marimba concertos by Anders Koppel.

Strebi-Stiftung Luzern - Partner Debuts