Competition Director
The first edition of the Competition took place in 2018 and was a truly pioneering undertaking.
The Competition was initiated by Joanna Wnuk-Nazarowa, then Director of NOSPR, together with the authorities of the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice. It was held just four years after NOSPR had moved into its new concert hall, which hosted the Final Round auditions. Sir Simon Rattle and Krzysztof Penderecki accepted invitations to join the Honorary Committee. The Competition was held in five categories: piano, violin, string quartet, voice and composition.
Krzysztof Penderecki (1933–2020)
Sir Simon Rattle
Piano
Chair
Andrzej Jasiński
Joanna Domańska
Olga Kern
Aviram Reichert
Martin Roscoe
Tamás Ungár
Voice
Chair
Jadwiga Rappé 1952–2025
Ewa Biegas
Hartmut Höll
Bruno Michel
Mitsuko Shirai
Elżbieta Szmytka
String quartet
Chair
Valentin Erben
Krzysztof Chorzelski
Tim Frederiksen
Tadeusz Gadzina
Arkadiusz Kubica
Mats Lidström
Violin
Chair
Bartłomiej Nizioł
Eszter Haffner
Laurent Korcia
Szymon Krzeszowiec
Alexander Trostiansky
Andreas Vierziger
Composition
Chair
Eugeniusz Knapik
Jakob Kullberg
Krzysztof Penderecki (1933–2020)
Martin Smolka
Piano
1st Prize
Tymoteusz Bies
special prizes:- •for best performance of a work by Karol Szymanowski
2nd Prize
Mateusz Krzyżowski
3rd Prize
Seung Hui Kim
Voice
1st Prize
Ewa Tracz
special prizes:- •for best performance of a work by Karol Szymanowski
2nd Prize
Sylwia Olszyńska
3rd Prize
Agnieszka Jadwiga Grochala
String quartet
1st Prize
Eliot Quartett
special prizes:- •for best performance of a work by Karol Szymanowski
2nd Prize
Selini Quartet
3rd Prize
New Music Quartet
Violin
1st Prize
Sławomira Wilga
2nd Prize
Roksana Kwaśnikowska
3rd Prize
Maja Horvat
special prizes:- •for best performance of a work by Karol Szymanowski
Composition
1st Prize
Giovanni Bonato
2nd Prize
Not awarded
3rd Prize ex aequo
Daniele Gasparini
3rd Prize ex aequo
Lim Youngjin
3rd Prize ex aequo
Eunho Chang
Distinctions for Collaborative Pianists
Voice Category
Maurycy Stawujak
Violin Category
