Carl Nielsen International Music Competition
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Carl Nielsen International Competition (Danish: Carl Nielsen Konkurrencen) is a competition for classical musicians (violin, clarinet, and flute) held in Odense, Denmark, in memory of the composer Carl Nielsen.
The competition was established in 1980 under the patronage of Queen Margarethe of Denmark. It became a member of the World Federation of International Music Competitions in 1981. Initially a violin competition, its first President was Henryk Szeryng. Later the competition added special editions for organists (since 1986), clarinetists (since 1997) and flutists (since 1998). At various times jury members included Max Rostal, Joseph Gingold, Norbert Brainin, Arve Tellefsen, Milan Vitek, Dorothy DeLay, Tibor Varga, Jean-Jacques Kantorow.
Since 2012, the organ competition is no longer part of the Carl Nielsen Competition, but is instead held as a separate competition. But the violin, clarinet and flute competitions have, after nearly four decades, established themselves as some of the most demanding and rewarding in the world, each offering winners the chance to launch a significant international career. From 2019, the Carl Nielsen International Competitions for violin, clarinet and flute will be held concurrently for the first time. Representing the 2019 competition as Artistic Advisors are three of the world's leading musicians in their fields – Nikolaj Znaider, Emmanuel Pahud and Martin Fröst.
During the 2022 edition of the competition a mentoring program called Espansiva! was held concurrently. The aim of this new program is to run alongside future editions of competition and to offer participants advice and insight during their time in Odense. During Espansiva! 2022, 10 talks were given by guest experts, soloists and musicians and 4 complementary workshops. There was opportunity for individual conversations with members of the Espansiva! team and each evening both participants and guest speakers were invited to "relax and eat together" at the aptly named Anarkist brewery located in Odense. The name Espansiva! comes from C. Nielsen's 3rd Symphony which also goes by the name Espansiva![1]
