Luis Castillo-Briceño and Miguel Sepúlveda have been awarded the Grand Prix at the International Conducting Competition in Rotterdam.

Castillo-Briceño won the Classical, Proms, and Symphonic prizes, while Sepúlveda won the Contemporary, Opera and Codarts prizes.

Both conductors competed alongside the four other Designate Winners, including Askonas Holt Fellows Jakub Przybycień and Sam Weller, in five separate rounds and were named joint winners by a jury chaired by Deborah Borda and included Vasily Petrenko, Iván Fischer, Evelino Pidò, Pamela Rosenberg, and Mark Williams.

Castillo-Briceño is currently a Dudamel Fellow and has twice conducted the LA Philharmonic this season. He has also conducted the London Philharmonic and this debuted with the Sinfonieorchester St Gallen and Orchestre philharmonique du Luxembourg.

Sepúlveda is a Donald Runnicles Fellow at the Dresdner Philharmonie and will conduct the orchestra in subscription concerts this September. He also returns to the Gulbenkian Orchestra for his fourth project with them in July, and in December, he makes his LA Philharmonic debut in concerts around Los Angeles County as a Dudamel Fellow.

Both conductors have been Askonas Holt Fellows since 2023 and 2024, respectively.

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