Marzena Diakun
Conducting Jury 2025
Biography
Originally from Poland, conductor Marzena Diakun, won Second Prize at the Prague Spring Festival Competition in 2007 and the Grzegorz Fitelberg Competition in 2012. Her recording of choral works by Johannes Brahms with the Orchestra and Choir of the City of Madrid, released in 2023 on the IBS label, has been highly acclaimed by critics. In the 2024–2025 season, she will conduct the Orchestra of the Komische Oper Berlin, the Residentie Orkest in The Hague, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. She is set to become Artistic Director of the Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie starting in the 2026–2027 season.
August 2025 - Full biography on diakun.com/en/
Events
During the second round of the Conducting Competition, the 12 selected candidates will be leading the Orchestre de Chambre de Genève. Each candidate will have 45 minutes to run through an excerpt from Stravinsky’s Danses concertantes and work on excerpts from Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings and Wagner's Siegfried Idyll, selected by random draw:
Ballot 1
Stravinsky: I. Marche-Introduction + II. Pas d’Action
Wagner: Bar 116 to bar 295
Tchaikovsky: II. Valse + IV. Finale
Ballot 2
Stravinsky: III. Thème varié
Wagner: Beginning to bar 181
Tchaikovsky - II. Valse + I. Pezzo
Ballot 3
Stravinsky: IV. Pas de Deux + V. Marche-Conclusion
Wagner: Bar 243 to the end
Tchaikovsky: II. Valse + III. Elegie
SESSION 1 – SUNDAY 2 NOVEMBER, 14:00
- Simon Schmied, 30 years old
- Leonard Weiss, 32 years old
- Gabriel Pernet, 26 years old
SESSION 2 – SUNDAY 2 NOVEMBER, 19:00
- Julia Cruz Carceller, 28 years old
- Jacobus De Jager, 28 years old
- Nathanaël Iselin, 32 years old
SESSION 3 – MONDAY 3 NOVEMBER, 14:00
- Josephine Korda, 29 years old
- Yu-Te Wu, 30 years old
- Giovanni Fanizza, 29 years old
SESSION 4 – MONDAY 3 NOVEMBER, 19:00
- Mats Thiersch, 22 years old
- Alejandro Cantalapiedra, 31 years old
- Michal Oren, 28 years old
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Sessions at 2:00 PM & 7:00 PM
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Ansermet Auditorium
2 Passage Marie-Claude Leburgue
1205 Geneva
During this first round of the Conducting Competition, the 24 candidates will each have 25 minutes of public rehearsal with the Orchestre de la Haute école de musique de Genève to work on or run through excerpts from Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 and Schubert’s Symphony No. 5, drawn by lot at the beginning of the round.
Ballot n°1
Beethoven – Symphony n°2, 1st movement (Adagio molto – Allegro con brio)
Schubert – Symphony n°5, 3rd movement (Menuetto: Allegro molto)
Ballot n°2
Beethoven – Symphony n°2, 2nd movement (Larghetto)
Schubert – Symphony n°5, 4th movement (Allegro vivace)
Ballot n°3
Beethoven – Symphony n°2, 3rd movement (Scherzo: Allegro)
Schubert – Symphony n°5, 1st movement (Allegro)
Ballot n°4
Beethoven – Symphony n°2, 4th movement (Allegro molto)
Schubert – Symphony n°5, 2nd movement (Andante con moto)
SESSION 1 – FRIDAY 31 OCTOBER, 14:00
- Lars Corijn, 29 years old
- Celia Llácer, 31 years old
- Moyue Zhou, 29 years old
- Simon Schmied, 30 years old
- Leonard Weiss, 32 years old
- Jaehyuck Choi, 30 years old
SESSION 2 – FRIDAY 31 OCTOBER, 19:00
- Zofia Kiniorska, 28 years old
- Gabriel Pernet, 26 years old
- Chao Dong, 27 years old
- Jooyoung Chang, 27 years old
- Julia Cruz Carceller, 28 years old
- Sunny Xuecong Xia, 29 years old
SESSION 3 – SATURDAY 1st NOVEMBER, 14:00
- Jacobus De Jager, 28 years old
- Nicolò Azzena, 32 years old
- Guro Ansteensen Haugli, 31 years old
- Nathanaël Iselin, 32 years old
- Josephine Korda, 29 years old
- Zhongling Fang, 28 years old
SESSION 4 – SATURDAY 1st NOVEMBER, 19:00
- Ondrej Soukup, 30 years old
- Yu-Te Wu, 30 years old
- Giovanni Fanizza, 29 years old
- Mats Thiersch, 22 years old
- Alejandro Cantalapiedra, 31 years old
- Michal Oren, 28 years old
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Open to the public
Sessions at 2:00 PM & 7:00 PM
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Auditorium Ansermet
Passage Marie-Claude Leburgue 2
1205 Genève