vlnr: Christoph Dingler, Hans-Jürgen Allers (6. Preis), Sophie Pope (3. Preis), Tonio Geugelin (2. Preis), Judit Varga (4. Preis), Marie-Luise Dingler, Johannes Söllner (1. Preis) Bild: Hagen Orgus
Great Crossover Composition Award Final 2012
Johannes Söllner Wins With ‘Doch Laub und Wolken unter Nacht‘
Mannheim, 21st September 2012 – The Reiss-Engelhorn-Museum museum provided a festive setting on Friday evening for the ‘Crossover Composition Award 2012‘, where Mannheim violin duo ‘The Twiolins‘ played six new compositions for two violins in front of an audience of approx. 300. The audience was then asked to decide upon the winners. The competition which was held for the second time was won by Johannes Söllner.
The Finalists
The finalists were selected by a well-known panel of experts which included Prof. Christoph Poppen, Prof. Sidney Corbett, Benedikt Brydern and The Twiolins Marie-Luise and Christoph Dingler. On the night of the competition the audience voted directly on who should be given an award.
Country statistics CCA 2012
1st prize Johannes Söllner (GER)
2nd prize Tonio Geugelin (GER)
3rd prize Sophie Pope (UK)
4th prize Judit Varga (HUN)
5th prize Jonathan Russell (USA)
6th prize Hans-Günther Allers (GER)
A special prize went to Michael F. P. Huber (AU)
The ‘Crossover Composition Award 2012’ was looking for a winning composition that ‚wows you‘. The composition ‘Durch Laub und Wolken unter Nacht‘ did just that – it was the audience’s favourite and awarded 1st prize with prize money of 3000 Euros (sponsored by the Spiegel Institut Mannheim). The winner Johannes Söllner from Freiburg was delighted to come first and explained how he went about composing: ‘I sat in front of the piano and started by looking for beautiful chords‘. The result is an exciting and well-balanced piece of music – when listening to it, particularly at this time of year your thoughts start to roam. The passionate pianist and lecturer at the conservatories in Freiburg and Karlsruhe found particular appeal in the instrumentation – ‘I had not come across a call for compositions for a violin duo before – it’s a combination you rarely come across even in concerts.’
Marie-Luise Dingler talking to the winner Johannes Söllner / Image: Hagen Orgus
The 2nd prize of 200 Euros (sponsored by Dr. Dr. h.c. Manfred Fuchs) went to Tonio Geugelin (born in Freiburg) for his composition ‘Orient Express‘. This impressive, rather up-beat piece is immediately compelling – it takes you on a journey. Tonio is known as a musical all-rounder who is successful both as a jazz violinist and a beat-boxer. This was his first attempt at composing for which he promptly received an award. ‘I didn’t expect it, I feel great!‘ He also found it an interesting challenge to compose for two violions. It was particularly appealing to him that the sole condition was to write a piece of music that would ‘wow the audience’.
Marie-Luise Dingler talking to Tonio Geugelin / Image: Hagen Orgus
A special prize was awarded by the expert panel to Michael F. P. Huber (AU) for the particularly creative piece ‘Veitstanz’.
In addition to the prize money the finalists can look forward to having their compositions published by Verlag Peer Music and recorded on CD by The Twiolins.
It was a pleasure for the competition initiators to practice, rehearse and perform the pieces. Marie-Luise Dingler explains: ‘The pieces were a lot more difficult than those entered three years ago. Each of them demanded the highest technical performance. You can never be sure whether the audience will like them. In the end, the thunderous applause affirmed the expert panel’s choice of compositions.’ She was particularly impressed with the composer who managed to win second prize the very first time he took part in a competition of this kind: ‘In a manner of speaking, we have discovered a new talent.’
2nd Crossover Composition Award (CCA)
The Twiolins, Marie-Luise and Christoph Dingler / Image: Hagen Orgus
‘A smash hit that wows you‘ was the theme for the competition where you could enter a piece of music by 1st July 2012. It was aimed at composers that wanted to write a piece for two violins. ‘Not only the number of participants, but also the creativity and inventiveness of compositions has increased compared with the last competition held in 2009‘ said co-initiator Marie-Luise Dingler. The Twiolins are more than happy with the response of almost 100 entries sent in from 16 countries. The next Crossover Composition Award will take place in 2015.
About The Twiolins
The Twiolins are Marie-Luise and Christoph Dingler. From childhood on the siblings have been playing the violin together. They have been awarded many scholarships and awards for their music – they succeeded in coming first in ‘Jugend musiziert‘ no less than six times. They perform across the globe as a violin duo and have released their first album ‘Virtuoso‘ ‘. www.thetwiolins.de
