The International Mozart Competition has been one of the world's major music competitions for over 50 years. Since its inception in 1956 – and regularly held since 1975 – the competition has focused on the work of the genius loci Mozart, whose oeuvre is constantly being rediscovered by a young generation of highly talented performers: with a special festival character in the unique atmosphere of Salzburg, traditionally in the categories of singing, piano, violin and string quartet.
Artistic Director
Vice Rector O.Univ.-Prof. Mag. Hannfried Lucke
Head of Coordination
Stefan David Hummel
+43 676 88122 379
stefan_david.hummel@moz.ac.at
Competition Office & Organisation
Katrin Meraner
+43 676 88122 327
mozartwettbewerb@moz.ac.at
Competition Office & Organisation
Helena Mayer
+43 676 88122 365
mozartwettbewerb@moz.ac.at
Mirabellplatz 1
5020 Salzburg
Next Mozart Competition:
For many musicians, participation in the International Mozart Competition represents an important milestone and a springboard to an international artistic career, as evidenced by the impressive later achievements of former prizewinners such as Diana Damrau, Renée Fleming, Magdalena Kožená, Genia Kühmeier, Esther Hoppe, Thomas Zehetmair, and the Novus String Quartet.
The winners of the 16th International Mozart Competition Salzburg 2026 in the violin category are:
1. Xunyue Zhang (China)
2. Yuki Serino (Italy)
3. Maxim Tzekov (Austria/Bulgaria)
IGNM Special Prize of €1,000 for the best interpretation of a contemporary work:
Björg Pas (Norway)
Audience Prize of €1,000:
Yuki Serino (Italy)
Bärenreiter Urtext Prize: three music vouchers worth €300 each, donated by Bärenreiter-Verlag:
The winners of the 16th International Mozart Competition Salzburg 2026 in the piano category are:
IGNM Special Prize of €1,000 for the best interpretation of a contemporary work:
Audience Prize of €1,000:
Bärenreiter Urtext Prize: three music vouchers worth €300 each, donated by Bärenreiter-Verlag:
The prizewinner of the 15th International Mozart Competition Salzburg 2023 in the category voice are:
IGNM-Prize of €1,000 for the best interpretation of a contemporary work:
Boris Bakow Prize of €1,000 for the best interpretation of an aria in Italian:
Prize awarded by the Mozarteum Foundation Salzburg for the best interpretation of a vocal work by W. A Mozart, in the form of the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe (Bärenreiter-Verlag):
Bärenreiter Urtext Prize: three vouchers for sheet music, worth €300 each, sponsored by Bärenreiter Verlag:
Invitation to ARCO – Art, Research and Creation Opus 2023: ARCO is an international academy for contemporary composition and a cooperative project between the Mozarteum University Salzburg, the GMEM Marseille (Centre national de création musicale), and the French ensembles Les Métaboles, Ensembles Multilaterale and the Tana Quartet:
Jury:
The prizewinners of the 15th International Mozart Competition Salzburg 2023, Category String Quartet, are:
1st Prize: Arete Quartet (South Korea)
2nd Prize: Affinity Quartet (Australia)
3rd Prize: Eden Quartet (South Korea)
IGNM Prize for the best interpretation of a contemporary work:
Prize for the best interpretation of a string quartet by W. A. Mozart:
Invitation to ARCO – Art, Research and Creation Opus 2023: ARCO is an international academy for contemporary composition and a cooperative project between the Mozarteum University Salzburg, the GMEM Marseille (Centre national de création musicale), and the French ensembles Les Métaboles, Ensembles Multilaterale and the Tana Quartet:
Jury:
→ To the Competition Programme
Violin 1st - 5th February 2020
Result
1st Prize: Clarissa Bevilacqua (Italy)
2nd Prize: Yun Tang (China)
3rd Prize: Lorenz Karls (Sweden)
Prize for the best interpretation of a work by Wolfgang A. Mozart:
Audience Award:
Rrize for the best interpretation of the commissioned work "To be Mozart or not to be!" by Florian Willeitner:
Bärenreiter Urtext Prize:
Jury:
Piano 5th - 11th February 2020
Result
1st Prize: Elisabeth Waglechner (Austria)
2nd Prize: Su Yeon Kim (South Korea)
3rd Prize: Yu Nitahara (Japan)
Prize for the best interpretation of a work by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart:
Audience Award:
Special prize for the best interpretation of the commissioned work "Bagatelle for piano" by Krzysztof Meyer:
Jury:
Horn 11th - 15th February 2020
Result
1st Prize: Haeree Yoo (South Korea)
2nd Prize: Daniel Loipold (Austria)
3rd Prize: Adrian Diaz Martinez (Spain)
Prize for the best interpretation of a work by Wolfgang A. Mozart:
Audience Award:
Prize for the best interpretation of the commissioned work "Fa(n)FaRe for horn and piano" by Michael Kapsner:
Jury:
The prizewinners of the 13th International Mozart Competition Salzburg 2018 in the string quartet category are:
1st Prize: Quatuor Tchalik
2nd Prize: Eliot Quartet
3rd Prize: Quatuor Akos
Prize for the best interpretation of a string quartet by W. A. Mozart:
Bärenreiter Urtext Prize:
Jury:
The prize-winners of the 13th International Mozart Competition Salzburg 2018 in the voice category are:
1st Prize: Anna El-Khashem
2nd Prize: Peter Kellner
3rd Prize: Mojca Bitenc
Prize for the best interpretation of a vocal work by W. A. Mozart:
Audience Award for the best vocal performance of the evening:
Bärenreiter Urtext Prize:
Jury:
12th International Mozart Competition 2016
Violin:
1st Prize: Ziyu He (China, b. 1999)
2nd Prize: Thomas Reif (Germany, b. 1991)
3rd Prize: Benjamin Marquise Gilmore (Netherlands, b. 1987)
Prize for the best interpretation of the commissioned violin work:
Prize for the best interpretation of the Mozart Violin Concerto:
Jury:
Piano:
1st Prize(Bösendorfer-Prize): Saskia Giorgini (Italy/Netherlands, b. 1985)
2nd Prize: Yoonhee Yang (South Korea, b. 1985)
3rd Prize: Julia Kociuban (Poland, b. 1992)
Prize for the best interpretation of the commissioned piano work:
Prize for the best interpretation of a Mozart piano concerto:
Jury:
The prizewinners of the 11th International Mozart Competition Salzburg 2014 in the string quartet category are:
1st Prize: Novus String Quartet (South Korea)
Young-Uk Kim / Jaeyoung Kim / Seungwon Lee / Woong Whee Moon
2nd Prize: Quatuor Varèse (France)
François Galichet / Jean-Louis Constant / Sylvain Séailles / Thomas Ravez
3rd Prize: Quatuor Lumière (Australia/Ukraine/France)
David Gueran / Andriy Ostapchuk / Valentyna Pryshlyak / Greg Tüske
Best interpretation of a Mozart string quartet:
Jury:
The prizewinners of the 11th International Mozart Competition Salzburg 2014 in the vocal category are:
1st Prize: Matthias Winckhler (Germany, b. 1990)
2nd Prize: Siobhan Stagg (Australia, b. 1987)
3rd Prize: Sophie Rennert (Austria, b. 1990)
Best interpretation of a Lied by Richard Strauss:
Best interpretation of a Lied by W. A. Mozart:
Jury:
7th-10th International Mozart Competition Salzburg 1999-2011
(on request: mozartwettbewerb@moz.ac.at)
The Salzburg International Mozart Competition has been held in Salzburg since 1975. Until 2014, the competition was held every three to four years, since when has taken place biennially. The competition categories are voice, piano, violin, horn and string quartet, with the categories alternating from one year to the next, thus each category is represented every four years. In 2020, the category "horn" was included for the first time in the history of the Mozart Competition. The competition has been associated with the Fédération Mondiale des Concours Internationaux de Musique (FMCIM) since 1990.
