Follow the Éva Marton Singing Competition live!

The Liszt Academy’s very first self-organized major music competition was formally announced for the second time in January of this year. More than 100 artists from 25 countries on five continents had uploaded their videos onto the competition website by the application deadline in May. The Review Committee headed by Éva Marton decided on admitting 77 competitors to the live rounds, among whom nearly 60 young singers are making the trip to Budapest in order to test their abilities in the Liszt Academy.

The competition kicks off with a draw to decide the order of appearance on 19 September. The opening event as well as the preliminary and semi-final rounds organized in the Sir Georg Solti Chamber Hall (20-22 September) are open to the public at no charge. Tickets for the final, which is staged in the Grand Hall on 24 September, and for the gala performance in the Hungarian State Opera, can be purchased at the Liszt Academy’s box office on Liszt Ferenc Square and through the website. Thanks to the multi-camera online broadcast, all the excitement of the semi-finals and final can be followed live via martoncompetition.hu (even on a smartphone). The competition final is being broadcast live by Bartók Radio and at the request of Imre Szabó Stein, communications director of the Liszt Academy, Hungarian broadcaster MTVA is making a 55-minute film of the competition.  

Photo: Liszt Academy / Zoltán Tuba

“We all clearly understood that the long-term, lasting success of the competition – positioned in 2014 in the frontline of global contests – would be marked out by the success of the next invitation since we could not count on the appeal of a brand-new start, in other words, the novelty factor, so that we had to rely heavily on the prestige of the Liszt Academy, the originality of the image representation, innovative communication as well as the personality and reputation of Éva Marton” stated Imre Szabó Stein, Communications Director of the Liszt Academy, who supervised the preparations and announcement of the II International Éva Marton Singing Competition. “This time, we have several continuous multi-camera webcasts from the Semi-finals onwards, using the Liszt Academy’s own equipment and studio facilities. I am particularly delighted that the TV film of a large-scale docureality genre following the exciting twists and turns of the competition this year will receive the attention worthy of the competition eponym and the competition’s significance, since the newly launched cultural channel of public broadcasting, M5, will give air time to this feature on 1 October, World Music Day” revealed Imre Szabó Stein, who is also responsible for the complete project management of the II International Éva Marton Singing Competition.

The competition has total prize money of €45,000. The jury is headed by Éva Marton and includes Hungarian and international celebrities from the world of opera such as Miguel Lerín, one of the most influential managers in European opera, Vittorio Terranova, artistic director of the F. Tagliavini opera competition, Christina Scheppelmann, artistic director of the Teatro Liceu in Barcelona, Prof. Sung Bin Kim, dean of the Faculty of Music of Daeshin University, South Korea, Anatoli Goussev, professor of the La Scuola Musicale in Foro Buonaparte di Milano, Honghai Ma, Professor of the Central Conservatory of Music, Beijing, Andrea Meláth, head of the Department of Vocal and Opera Studies, Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, and Szilveszter Ókovács, director of the Hungarian State Opera. Guest of honor of the competition will be conductor Richard Bonynge.

“I don’t think there is another music institution of higher education anywhere in the world that provides such a distinguished and at the same time state-of-the-art environment for the staging of a music competition. Making an appearance at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music is an inspiring experience for all and it is enormously prestigious to have performed here. There are major prizes on offer but, naturally, it is not the financial element that is most important. I believe the greatest gain is in the spirit of the place and the chance to prove oneself in front of a jury,” said Éva Marton in an exclusive interview at the launch of the competition catalogue. The 100-page publication presenting the competitors and figures involved in the competition has articles on the background to the competition, preparations, the jury and behind-the-scenes features. An online version of the catalogue as well as all the latest information on the II International Éva Marton Singing Competition are now accessible on the competition website.