The Pablo Casals Festival

Thorsten Encke :
laureate of the first edition of the International chamber music music competition of the Pablo Casals festival (Prades april 2005)

Report of the first competition

This first edition took place in the Chapter Hall of  Saint Michel de Cuxŕ Abbey, on Saturday 14 April 2005. The concert was open to the  public.

There were 4 finalists, three Europeans and one Australian : 
- Sadie Harrison (Australia), 
- Karol Beffa (France), 
- Thorsten Encke (Germany) 
- Andrea Fontemaggi (Italy).

At the opening of the competition, there were around 300 competitors from all around the world (Europe, Australia, U.S.A., China, Brazil …). At the closing date (31/12/2004), 82 composers had proposed an unpublished work, for a formation ranging from trio to sextet. All the works had been studied by seven jury members ; in  March 2005, they held a first meeting and concluded with the selection of four nominees.

Programme (the order of playing resulted from a chance draw). 
The works have been interpreted in world premiere.

France Karol Beffa Ť Mosaďques ť for violin, cello and piano, (2004), 17’ 

Allemagne Thorsten Encke Ť String Quartet ť (2004) , 18’

Italie Andrea Fontemaggi Ť On all Fours ť (2002) for string quartet, 15‘ 

Australie Sadie Harrison “And who now will wake the dead ?...” for flute, clarinette, violin, alto, cello and piano(2004), 17’

After deliberation, Thorsten Encke was declared  Laureate of the competition. A prize of 15 000 euros was awarded. His work will be played again on 6 August 2005, during the 54e session of the Prades  Pablo Casals Festival and on January 2006, in Paris, during the session of  Ť Prades aux Champs-Elysées ť

Jury
Marc-André Dalbavie,      Composer
Cristóbal Halffter,             Composer
Krzysztof Penderecki,       Composer
Barry Douglas,                  Piano
Michel Lethiec,                  Clarinette
Vladimir Mendelssohn,    Alto
Arto Noras,                         Cello