2024’s mdw great talent award powered by Christian Zeller showcased yet another wide-ranging field of contestants, excellent overall artistic quality, and an accomplished winner. The American singer Zacharías Galaviz-Guerra won over the jury (chair: Angelika Möser) in the thrilling final round on 18 November, winning the EUR 10,000 first prize as well as a professional sound recording. Galaviz-Guerra, a baritone, has been studying classical voice with Martina Steffl-Holzbauer in the mdw’s IGP programme since 2021. As a vocal soloist, he has been heard onstage with art song repertoire including works by Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Alma Mahler, and numerous other composers as well as in operas such as Rigoletto, La Traviata, and Candide. Galaviz-Guerra was a finalist in the International Helmut Deutsch Lied Competition of 2023, and he claimed both the first prize and the Audience Award at the competition of the festival Liedkunst im Schloss vor Husum in Germany. He has attended master classes with Ulf Bästlein and Charles Spencer. On his participation in this competition, the singer remarked beforehand: “My rule is to refrain from any attempt to raise expectations—especially when there are factors in play that I can’t influence. All I can do is admonish myself to sing with integrity and discipline, strive for truth in both art and myself, and hopefully present something beautiful that everyone can hear.”
The final round’s second prize (worth EUR 5,000) went to the violinist Julian Walder, and flutist Avigea Delivicheva was awarded the third prize (worth EUR 2,500).
At the finale of this competition, mdw rector Ulrike Sych emphasised its significance: “The mdw great talent award is a very special competition that pays tribute to the outstanding artistic standards upheld by our students. In order to be successful as a young artist, it’s essential to have opportunities to present oneself in high-calibre competitions. Competition sponsor Christian Zeller, for his part, stated the following: “The Christian Zeller Private Foundation is pleased to be supporting the mdw’s great talent award for the fourth time, thereby providing up-and-coming young artists with an opportunity to test their mettle at a critical point in their training and budding careers. The excellence of our finalists attests to the first-class level of training offered at the mdw.”
The jury, which consisted of Ursula Magnes (radio klassik Stephansdom), Eva Teimel (Ö1), Wolfgang Härtel (Vienna Philharmonic), Heinz Medjimorec (pianist), and Angelika Möser (jury chair and artistic director of the Vienna RSO), praised the high standards upheld by all of the participants. In addition to the monetary prizes, all of the finalists in the mdw great talent award powered by Christian Zeller have been given opportunities to perform as part of the cultural programme of the Südbahnhotel am Semmering.
The mdw great talent award, whose motto is “We support tomorrow’s stars today,” is open to mdw students from the areas of keyboard instruments, bowed and other string instruments, wind and percussion instruments, chamber music and special ensembles, voice and music theatre, and popular music. Performing experience and professionalism are fundamental prerequisites for participation. Artistic excellence and sustainability are central to all of sponsor Christian Zeller’s diverse activities in support of the arts. The winners of this competition’s prior editions were the Selini Quartet (2021), bassoonist Johanna Bilgeri (2022), and organist Raimondo Mazzon (2023).
