Mission Statement
The Telekom Beethoven Competition Bonn has two central goals: It is primarily dedicated to promoting young pianists of exceptional talent as they embark on their international careers. And, of course, the competition makes a major contribution to honoring Ludwig van Beethoven by drawing attention to his genius and perpetuating his memory in his “hometown” of Bonn.
We at Deutsche Telekom – through our innovative communication technologies – bring people together and enable them to share life’s experiences like no other business enterprise in Germany. Beethoven did much the same by uniting people through his music. One could say that we share the same cultural and social identity. Our technologies help people enrich their lives by overcoming barriers to shared experiences, and being a universal language understood the world over, music does very much the same in terms of culture and human understanding,
says Timotheus Höttges, CEO of Deutsche Telekom AG, a communications group represented in the USA, Germany and many other European countries.
The central idea of course is to encourage a new generation of pianists. Furthermore it is an incentive to take an even greater interest in Beethoven’s work,
complements Chairman and Artistic Director Prof. Pavel Gililov.
The high standards of the competition are underpinned by its consistently successful prize-winners, by unique partners such as the Beethovenfest, the Beethovenhaus, the Beethoven Orchestra and the Beethoven Trio, as well as by the first-class juries.
Former prizewinners remain connected to us beyond the competition and are supported as much as possible, be it for concert performances or for particularly worthy projects. The uniqueness of this community became particularly clear in November 2021 at our Summit, in which prize winners from previous competitions performed together.
The competition is based on four rounds of auditions, plus a selection panel which is responsible for inviting 28 promising musicians to Bonn. The competition focuses on works by Beethoven from every phase of his creative life. The picture of the master’s music is rounded off with compositions by his predecessors, contemporaries and successors. Along with the compulsory pieces, candidates can each put together a free program to show the jury their individual artistic potential.
Apart from its artistic aspiration the competition attaches great importance to a personal atmosphere. The participants are accommodated in host families. There they have the opportunity to rehearse and to get an impression of life in Beethoven's native city of Bonn, whose dedicated concert-goers will accompany the artists through all the competition rounds, contributing to a great concert atmosphere. For those who are not able to experience the competition in person, all performances will be available per internet live streaming. Furthermore, the audience will also have a voice: During the semifinals two Audience Choice Awards will be granted – one from the audience in Bonn, and one from those listening per live stream. The audience will also present its own Best Performance Award during the final round of the competition.
Playing a wrong note is insignificant but playing without passion is unforgivable.
Ludwig van Beethoven