The winners of the 2026 German Music Competition have been announced

The winners of the 2026 German Music Competition have been announced

On March 26, 2026, the German Music Competition announced the winners of this year’s competition. Two soloists ultimately prevailed in a highly competitive field:
Constantin Heise, cello
Joscha Kremsler, clarinet


Both musicians will thus receive the GENUIN Special Prize, which includes a CD production in cooperation with Deutschlandfunk/Deutschlandfunk Kultur. The album will be released as part of the Edition Primavera series. Congratulations!

The 2026 German Music Competition took place from March 19 to 28 in the categories of accordion, bassoon, clarinet, saxophone, voice, double bass, cello, open-formation ensembles, string quartet, piano partner, and composition for solo violin. This year, a total of 116 young musicians performed before the jury in the competition rounds.

In addition, soprano Henrike Legner also received a scholarship. Congratulations. In October 2025, she released her album “Von der Liebe Zaubermacht”. Together with Gerold Huber, she performs selected songs by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy.

Photo: Christian Palm/DMW

linkSee the Primavera edition

linkWebsite of the German Music Competition