Applications Open: 6th Evgeny Svetlanov International Conducting Competition 2026

Applications are now open for the 6th Evgeny Svetlanov International Conducting Competition, taking place 3–6 September 2026 in Birmingham in partnership with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO). For the first time, the competition will be held in the United Kingdom.

A distinguished international jury chaired by Bertrand de Billy will select 18 young conductors to compete across three rounds, working with one of Europe’s leading orchestras, the CBSO, under the music direction of Kazuki Yamada. The jury also includes distinguished figures from the international music world, among them Mauro Bucarelli, Christoph Ghristi, Matthias Goerne, Sacha Goetzel, Paul Hughes, Ion Marin, Matthias Naske, Deborah Polaski and Kazuki Yamada. 

The competition repertoire will feature major symphonic works, alongside music by Evgeny Svetlanov and a newly commissioned work by Antonino Abate.

Past laureates include conductors such as Andris Poga, Christoph Altstaedt, Robert Treviño, Roberto Fores-Veses, Domingo Hindoyan, Debora Waldman, Jesko Sirvend and Henri Aavik, many of whom have gone on to international conducting careers. In fact, around 80% of the competition’s participants subsequently pursue international conducting careers.

The semi-finals and finals will be broadcast live and available on demand via medici.tv. In addition to financial prizes, the winners will receive opportunities for invitations from leading musical partners. The application period runs until 15 April 2026. Tickets for the competition rounds are now on sale via the competition’s official website.

Kazuki Yamada, CBSO Music Director and Juror at the Svetlanov Competition:

In an interview with CBSO, conductor Kazuki Yamada reflects on the experience of an orchestra serving as the host ensemble of a conducting competition. For the orchestra, this role represents an intense yet highly inspiring process: numerous young conductors step onto the podium one after another, working with the same repertoire. As Yamada notes, “sometimes you wonder why the sound changes so much even though the same music is being conducted. Nobody can really explain why – it’s really a kind of magic.”

 For Yamada himself, serving on the jury is also a process of continuous learning. Encountering young conductors and their ideas provides fresh perspectives and inspiration that he takes into his own artistic work. 

 In this way, the competition becomes not only a platform for the next generation of conductors, but also a vibrant exchange of musical ideas—an experience that is stimulating and enriching for orchestra, jury and audiences alike.