The 73rd ARD International Music Competition has concluded and unveiled its winners.

This article only includes winners in the vocal categories.

Baritone Samueol Park from South Korea was awarded First Prize. Second Prize went to soprano Aurora Marthens from Finland, who also won the Audience Prize, ands soprano Mira Alkhovik from Russia took home Third Prize.

In total, the competition awarded artists with 180.000 Euros. Bavarian Broadcasting followed the competition with 60 hours of live programming on radio, TV and online.

“We are very proud and grateful for this immense international interest in our competition on the part of young musicians. The sheer number of applications from all parts of the world underlines the significance of the ARD-Competition,” said Meret Forster, Artistic Director of the ARD Music Competition. They continued by saying, “We can only express our admiration – once again – at the unbelievably high standard of the competitors. The young musicians gave their best despite enormous pressure and utmost tension. Congratulations! We are delighted that the international reputation of the Competition will smooth the path to a concert career for the winners of the four categories and for many more of those who took part.”

This year saw a record number of applicants with 726 applications received. The 467 female and 443 male applicants came from 58 countries. After the preliminary selection, a total of 312 musicians qualified for the heats of the competition.