Next week, on March 18th, 2026, the International Classical Music Awards Gala will take place at the Joseph Keilberth Hall in Bamberg. During the gala concert, this year's laureates will perform on stage. Radio România Muzical, a member of the ICMA Jury, is among the radio stations that will broadcast the event. The ICMA Gala Concert will be aired by Radio România Muzical on April 12th, 2026.

Let us begin by talking about the International Classical Music Awards Gala, scheduled for March 18th, starting with this year's host institution - the Bamberger Symphoniker, which has been honored with the Special Achievement Award. The orchestra's chief conductor, Jakub Hrůša, has been named Artist of the Year. The concert also marks the 80th anniversary of the Bamberger Symphoniker.

We made the decision to go to Bamberg quite early on, I believe in 2022. Naturally, when the orchestra's management proposed hosting the 2026 ICMA Gala, we were absolutely delighted. I have personally known the Bamberg Symphony for a very long time, as I am based in Luxembourg and the orchestra tours extensively and has performed there frequently. I have attended Bamberg Symphony concerts since the 1970s and have always admired the ensemble's distinctive Bohemian sound. This characteristic faded somewhat during the tenure of other conductors such as Jonathan Nott, but it has now been rediscovered through the work of Jakub Hrůša, whom I personally consider one of the most interesting conductors of our time.

How is the program of the ICMA Gala Concert shaping up?

ICMA Gala concerts are always a blend of very different styles and works. We consistently feature many guest artists, and the pieces are relatively short - around seven minutes - sometimes excerpts from larger works.

This year's program indeed offers great variety: violin, viola, and piano soloists, the vocal ensemble "Amarcord," as well as soloists on violin and piano, a contemporary orchestral work written by the Composer Award laureate, and two vocal artists: soprano Ermonela Jaho, accompanied by piano, and mezzo-soprano Anja Mittermüller, accompanied by orchestra. Ermonela Jaho is a multiple ICMA laureate - she was named Artist of the Year in 2023; in 2021 she received her first ICMA award and made her debut at the gala concert. This will already be her third appearance with us.

So the program is always rich and diverse. This year it may not be quite as long as in the past two years, but the artistic level is certainly very high, and I am very much looking forward to this concert, which will undoubtedly be remarkable.

As you mentioned, the ICMA Gala program is extremely rich - ranging from the music of Josquin des Prez to contemporary works by Péter Zombola and Kalevi Aho. What would you say are some of the highlights or potential surprises of the program?

I believe we will have outstanding moments from the very first piece to the last. One discovery for the audience will, of course, be the work by Péter Zombola, named Composer of the Year. Likewise, the vocal piece by Josquin des Prez, performed by the "Amarcord" ensemble, is not something the general public is necessarily familiar with.

There will be many discoveries - including among the performers: the exceptional violinist Mariam Abouzahra and the young pianist Anthony Ratinov, who comes from the United States. So the concert will bring many revelations, and I believe it will once again be a great success

Finally, what can you tell us about the broader impact of the March 18th event? The ICMA Gala benefits from substantial media coverage, through Deutsche Welle and ICMA member radio stations.

The International Classical Music Awards Gala has grown significantly in recent years, especially thanks to Deutsche Welle's presence on YouTube. They broadcast the concert live, but also keep the recording available on their channel for three years. This allows audiences to return and listen to the concert at any time during that period.

We see viewers from all over the world - from Asia, North and South America, and of course Europe. So we have a very broad audience, not just those present in Bamberg. Tickets for the event are already sold out, of course, but we can count on several hundred thousand people watching our concerts online. It represents extraordinary visibility - both for ICMA and for the artists performing.

We had tremendous success in Luxembourg in 2022 - the number of viewers exceeded one million. The concert in Wrocław was the most successful so far, with around two million viewers. We are currently approaching 400,000 views for last year's concert in Düsseldorf on Deutsche Welle's YouTube channel.

So I am convinced that, given the reputation of the Bamberger Symphoniker and the artists featured in the program, we will once again enjoy great success and tremendous visibility in the musical world, across all parts of the globe.