An international career as big as Herbert von Karajan’s may not be the goal of young conductors when they set out, but could well be the glimmer of a dream. The Herbert von Karajan Young Conductors Award is an initiative of the Salzburg Festival that aims to bring this dream closer.
The British conductor Joel Sandelson laid a strong foundation for his career at last summer’s Festival, when he was named winner of the Herbert von Karajan Young Conductors Award 2020/21. The Award Winner’s Concert with the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra in summer 2022 gives him a platform to showcase his abilities. Due to the pandemic, it took nearly two years to reach this moment, beginning with over 250 applications that were received for the reorganized, now biennial award. The jury selected eight conductors aged between 21 and 35 to take part in a Rehearsal Day without audience in Salzburg, where they demonstrated their skills in rehearsals with the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg and the oenm. oesterreichisches ensemble fuer neue musik. Three finalists — Jonas Ehrler from Switzerland, Luis Toro Araya from Chile and Joel Sandelson — then returned to the Salzburg Festival, where each gave a public concert with the Camerata Salzburg on the Award Concert Weekend in August 2021.
A jury of leading figures, chaired by Manfred Honeck, selected Joel Sandelson as the winner. He thus joins the ranks of recent award winners who are among the most exciting conductors to watch out for in their generation — as born out by successful past winners such as Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, Lorenzo Viotti and Maxime Pascal.

The Herbert von Karajan Young Conductors Award is an initiative of the Salzburg Festival in cooperation with the Eliette and Herbert von Karajan Institute. Applications for the next edition are expected to open in autumn 2022.

www.salzburgfestival.at/yca