Italian Andrea Buccarella (°1987) won the final of the Internationale Wedstrijd Musica Antiqua last night, which in 2018 focused on the harpsichord. Second prize went to German Alexander von Heißen and the jury awarded third prize ex aequo to Russian Anastasia Antonova and Italian Cristiano Gaudio.
Italian Rosella Policardo received an honorable mention from the jury and was also able to receive the audience prize.
The winner of the first prize receives not only a monetary prize but also the opportunity to perform recitals in Brugge, Brussel, Cremona, Potsdam, Tallinn and Marseille.
Since 2013, an independent jury of Outhere Music has rewarded one of the finalists with a professional recording at the renowned Ricercar label. Andrea Buccarella also claimed this prize.
The repertoire of the Internationale Wedstrijd Musica Antiqua 2018 for harpsichord must challenge candidates to demonstrate their musical ingenuity, thorough technique and command of style. The finalists had to work with excerpts from Huitième Ordre by François Couperin, Pièces de clavecin en concerts by Jean-Philippe Rameau and Ceci n'est pas une passacaille by Johan Huys (creation 2018).
The Internationale Wedstrijd Musica Antiqua, which is held during the MAfestival in Brugge, is among the most important early music competitions worldwide. The competition is aimed at young, highly qualified performers from home and abroad, specializing in historically informed performance practice. 78 participants entered for this edition. 69 of them eventually presented themselves during the preselections.
15 candidates were admitted to the semi-final, 5 of them were allowed to participate in the final. They were judged by an international jury of renowned pedagogues and performers: Johan Huys (BE), Skip Sempé (FR/US), Andrea Marcon (IT), Carole Cerasi (UK), Olga Martynova (RU) and Menno van Delft (NL).
- WHAT: Internationale Wedstrijd Musica Antiqua - focus harpsichord
- WHO: Andrea Buccarella (first prize), Alexander von Heißen (second prize), Anastasia Antonova and Cristiano Gaudio (third prize), Rosella Policardo (audience prize)
- WHERE: Concertgebouw, Brugge
- WHEN: Wednesday 1 to 8 August 2018
- WEBSITE: Internationale Wedstrijd Musica Antiqua
- PHOTO CREDIT: © Mario Leko
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qP4GilFuN0I[/embed]