Wendelin Bitzan

Today I would like to share some ambivalent experiences with the German youth competition Jugend musiziert, which I have had the chance to explore from different perspectives: as a participant, parent, committee delegate, and jury member. After serving on a chamber music jury in last year’s competition, I was designated to be a chairman of the solo voice category this year, and meant to recruit the other jury members and supervise the submitted programmes. Unfortunately, interaction and collaboration within the relevant committee turned out to be so inefficient and unsatisactory that I saw no other option than resigning from both functions as a delegate and jury member.

The subsequent actions of the committee and project management at Landesmusikrat Berlin led to a rash and unnecessary replacement of the whole jury, which appeared harmful with regard to the eligibility and appreciation of the previously chosen jury members, who are likely to be discouraged from future participations, and might even have had a loss of earnings after their short-notice cancellation. This is a pity, given the preconditions of the competition which essentially relies on a vast amount of voluntary work of the persons involved. These developments also point to a need of general reforms in the routines and organisational structures of the competition. I would be interested to know what you think of this, or if any of you has made similar observations and experiences.

On another note: The appearances of my daughter Cosima, a 15-year-old harpist, in the Berlin regional and state competitions have been immensely delightful. It is my pleasure to report that her performances of music by Handel, Tournier, and Andrès, as well as her own composition Dreaming Willow, earned her one of the highest scores in her category and the advancement to the federal competition, which will take place in Regensburg in May 2026.