Winners have been announced in the tenth Arturo Toscanini Conducting Competition, which took place from October 23 to 28. The competition, operated by La Fondazione Arturo Toscanini, is held in Parma, Italy, Toscanini’s birthplace. Four semi-finalists—Ciarán McAuley (Ireland), Woong Cha (Korea), and Yuga Cohler (U.S.), and Vincenzo Milletarì (Italy)—were selected from among twelve quarterfinalists and an initial 159 first-round candidates, ages 18 to 34 and coming from 34 different countries. No first place prize was awarded. Two second prizes of 10,000 euros each went to Milletarì and Cha, and McAuley received a 3,000-euro special mention. Cohler was awarded the 5,000-euro Orchestra Prize, selected by vote of the competition orchestra. Cohler holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Harvard College and a master’s degree in orchestral conducting from the Juilliard School; he is music director of the Los Angeles-based Young Musicians Foundation Debut Orchestra, whose April 2016 mash-up concert of Beethoven and Kanye West was covered in publications including the Los Angeles Times, Pitchfork, and Rolling Stone.
Posted November 3, 2017
