An Impulse for mdw Cello Students
When the first Heinrich Schiff Competition takes place at the mdw in late January, it will mark an important step in the University’s work to foster and promote its young cellists. Named for the outstanding cello soloist, conductor, and long-time mdw professor Heinrich Schiff, this competition will plant a flag for artistic excellence and institutional support while also closing a gap in the mdw’s internal competition offerings, which have so far lacked a format expressly for cello students.
For department head Anton Sorokow, who worked together with Heinrich Schiff in his own roles as concertmaster of the Wiener Symphoniker and as an mdw faculty member, this choice of namesake was an obvious one: “Heinrich Schiff was an extraordinary musician with an international reach. He was generous, supportive, and possessed of a big heart—and he was consistently devoted to his students.” Schiff’s name, says Sorokow, stands worldwide for quality, integrity, and musical depth, and it is precisely this posture that the competition is intended to embody. The idea for a dedicated cello competition grew out of multiple impulses. Within the mdw, the Stefanie Hohl Competition had for decades offered violin students an established format that not only sets high artistic standards but also functions as an important motivational tool in their everyday studies. This successful model represented a source of inspiration. At the same time, cooperating with the association IMK under its director Soondeog Kwon had opened up the opportunity to afford future competition winners a solo appearance with a renowned orchestra. What’s more, the composer and music patron Alfred Huber had expressed his willingness to support such a project both financially and artistically by sponsoring cash prizes and composing an obligatory work. This confluence of institutional, artistic, and organisational capacities provided the ultimate impetus to establish this new competition format, which has been conceived for the long term.
The competition’s objectives are broad-based and clearly defined. It seeks to challenge and encourage students artistically, offer them additional motivation to learn new works, and provide them with a professional-level context in which to present themselves. A major concern here is to generate added pedagogical value: competition experience, a concrete goal for the semester, and the opportunity to demonstrate one’s own artistic development. “A competition can both challenge and affirm,” emphasises Sorokow. “The intent is to encourage our students to put their potential on display.”
A look at the competition format clearly demonstrates this orientation: the preliminary round and final round, both of which will be held in the Franz Liszt-Saal, are scheduled for 22 and 23 January 2026, respectively. The preliminary round programme combines an obligatory work by Alfred Huber with classical and virtuosic repertoire, while the final round is devoted to Schumann’s Cello Concerto in A Minor op. 129—an emotionally and technically challenging cornerstone of the repertoire. Participation is open to all preparatory-, BA-, and MA-level cello students, regardless of whether they are enrolled in the performance or IGP programmes. The competition hence aims to include students from two departments: the Fritz Kreisler Department of String Instruments, Harp and Guitar (performance) and the Alma Rosé Department of String Instruments, Guitar and Harp in Music Education (IGP). Preparatory programme students are also explicitly invited to participate. This broad eligibility pool underlines the competition’s integrative ambition to involve the entire spectrum of mdw cello majors and be a format that connects the two departments.
With this year’s edition being the competition’s first, the preparatory work quite naturally represents new terrain for the organisers and involved groups of faculty. But even so, Sorokow prefers not to speak of “challenges” in the classic sense; it’s much rather about concerns that are typical when introducing a new format—like ensuring efficient interdepartmental coordination, precise scheduling, clear communication, and a jury whose membership is convincing both substantively and in a human sense. Particularly valuable in this respect are the many decades’ worth of best practices followed by the Stefanie Hohl Competition, whose structure and accumulated experiences provide a natural point of reference. The jury includes members of the mdw’s cello faculty as well as outside experts, among them an internationally active cellist. Sorokow, as one of the involved department heads, has assumed overall organisational responsibility. Operative coordination lies with the artistic management office of the Fritz Kreisler Department, where Julia Ostroverkhova is overseeing and integrating all activities. The aim is to create an environment that is in equal measure professional, fair, and inspiring.
Attractive prizes will provide additional motivation: their monetary component, amounting to a combined € 3,500, is being funded by Alfred Huber. The 1st prize includes € 1,500 as well as a concert appearance with the North Czech Philharmonic Orchestra in June 2026. The 2nd and 3rd prizes are worth € 1,000 and € 500, respectively, and an additional Special Prize will recognise the best interpretation of Huber’s sonata.
For the competition’s first edition, Sorokow would like to see the highest possible overall artistic level as well as strong audience turnout—especially at the final round. And although there is no family foundation or official estate behind the competition, a key desire is to keep Heinrich Schiff’s name alive—as a point of orientation, inspiration, and artistic aspiration. “With the Stefanie Hohl Competition having become a fixture for violin students over its decades of existence,” says Sorokow, “the Heinrich Schiff Competition is now aiming to play an equally important role for our cellists.”
