»For the performance of Lieder, singers require great

imagination – the capacity continuously to send their

thoughts on a journey and to create, within the most

limited time period, a world out of their introspective

viewpoint that audience members can vividly share.

Singing songs is – when it succeeds – the biggest artistic

satisfaction a performer can experience.«

Brigitte Fassbaender
in her memoirs „Komm’ aus dem Staunen nicht heraus“

The art song is among the most intimate and personal genres in music – and one of the most demanding ones. It requires extreme technical and vocal facility and at the same time a profound understanding of the texts – and it centers the musical partnership as cooperation between singer and pianist.

Therefore the International Art Song Competition Stuttgart - which will be held in Stuttgart in 2022 for the 13^th time - is announced exclusively for liedduos. It focuses not only on technical skills, quality of sound, textual adherence, articulation and the artistic realization but also on the musical partnership in performing. To quote Brigitte Fassbaender once again: »The musical discourse between singer and accompanist is inexhaustible, and one interpretation will never be the same as the next as long as the imagination also remains inexhaustible.«

The competition, which will completely be livestreamed, offers a huge platform for young singers and pianists to dedicate themselves to this beautiful and difficult art form and to present art song in front of a large, international audience.

In addition to Franz Schubert and Hugo Wolf as a constant »basis«, the competition 2022 is dedicated to Wolf’s great antipode Johannes Brahms (in the 125^th year of his death) and, in an English-language focus, to the British composers Ralph Vaughan Williams (on his 150^th birthday), Roger Quilter, Frank Bridge and Benjamin Britten. The contemporary part of the competition repertoire focuses on living women composers.

competition rules 2022 for download

Prizewinners of the International Art Song Competition Stuttgart​ 1987 – 2020 (until 1994 Internationaler Hugo-Wolf-Wettbewerb)

1987  Oliver Widmer, Christiane Oelze, Leonardo de Lisi, Hans de Vries, Ellen van Lier, Matthias Weichert, André Howard, Gisèle Fixe, Philippe Biros, Otto Katzamaier, Eric Schneider

1990  Matthias Goerne, Dietrich Henschel, Birgid Steinberger, Katalin Halmai, Irène Friedli, Gisèle Fixe, Matthias Rettner, Manuel Bärtsch, Eric Schneider

1994  Locky Chung, Susanne Scheinpflug, Stephan Genz, Stefan Geyer, Morten Ernst Lassen, Julio Fernández, Markus Hadulla

2001  Hermann Wallén / Kanako Nakagawa, Hakan Vramsmo / Matthias Alteheld, Jewgenija Grekowa / Irina Purischinskaja, Alexander Puhrer / Senka Brankovic, Susanna Levonen, Anne Le Bozec

2004  Michael Nagy / Juliane Ruf, Colin Balzer / Erika Switzer, Ágúst Ólafsson / Izumi Kawakatsu, JaeEun Lee / Fan Yang, You-Seong Kim / Sonia Kim, Melanie Hirsch / Alexandra Ismer

2007  André Morsch / Eildert Beeftink, Elena Copons-Labarias / Chihiro Gordon, Raphaël Favre / Chiho Togawa, Tobias Berndt / Misa Kanuma

2010  Annelie Sophie Müller / Elif Şahin-Nesweda, Anna Alàs i Jové / Alexander Fleischer, Javier Alonso / Ainoa Padrón

2012  Diana Haller / Katharina Landl, Andreas Beinhauer / Melania Inés Kluge, 
Hagar Sharvit / Ammiel Bushakevitz, Kerstin Mörk, Friederike Wiesner

2014  Ludwig Mittelhammer / Jonathan Ware, Emma Moore / Klara Hornig, 
Marie Seidler / Katharina Thöni, Carine Tinney / Thomas Wypior 

2016  Ilker Arcayürek/Fiona Pollak, Stuart Jackson/Jocelyn Freeman, 
Samuel Hasselhorn/Renate Rohlfing 

2018  Mikhail Timoshenko/Elitsa Desseva, Alex Rosen/Michał Biel, 
Irina Jae-Eun Park/Dokyung Han, Klaudia Tandl/Gisela Jöbstl
2020  Konstantin Ingenpass/Hyun-hwa Park, Małgorzata Rocławska/Olga Wien, Ekaterina Chayka-Rubinstein/Maria Yulin; Anerkennungspreise: Ronan Caillet/Malte Schäfer, Yuriy Hadzetskyy/Alina Shevchenko