Prize Winners Soirée 2025

As the opening event of the 11th edition of the Telekom Beethoven Competition, the Prizewinner’s Soirée will take place on June 14, 2025, at 7:30 PM in the Chamber Music Hall of the Beethoven-Haus. In addition to the musical program, the official announcement of the competition participants for December will be a highlight of the evening, making its debut during the concert.

At the Prizewinner’s Soirée of the renowned Bonn piano competition, Lovre Marušić, second prize winner of the 2023 competition, and Zhouhui Shen, third prize winner of the 2023 competition, return to Beethoven’s city to present a high-caliber program featuring works by Ludwig van Beethoven, Jean Sibelius, and Franz Liszt.

Beethoven’s Sonatina WoO 47 No. 1 in E-flat major captivates with its elegance and lightness. The song-like Allegro cantabile, lyrical Andante, and spirited Rondo vivace radiate charm and playfulness. His Sonata Op. 14 No. 2 in G major is a cheerful and refined work. The vibrant Allegro, cantabile Andante, and humorous Scherzo evoke the clarity and ease of chamber music.

Selected pieces from Sibelius’ Op. 76 – including "Consolation," "Pièce enfantine," and "Élégiaque" – blend Nordic melancholy and impressionistic colors into poetic miniatures.

With "Vallée d’Obermann" from Liszt’s Années de pèlerinage, a sweeping musical drama unfolds, filled with longing, doubt, and existential depth – a pinnacle of Romantic piano artistry. This forms the first part of the program, performed by Lovre Marušić.

After the announcement of the 2025 competition participants, Zhouhui Shen takes over the second half of the concert. She presents Beethoven’s monumental Sonata Op. 106, the "Hammerklavier Sonata," a work of exceptional technical and interpretative demands. Spanning four movements (Allegro, Scherzo: Assai vivace, Adagio sostenuto, Introduzione: Largo – Fuga: Allegro risoluto), it remains one of the greatest challenges in piano literature. The Adagio is considered one of Beethoven’s most profound slow movements, while the final Fugue, with its intricate polyphony and complex voice-leading, represents the pinnacle of pianistic mastery.

The concert, including an intermission, will last approximately 130 minutes.