David Afkham

Young German conductor David Afkham has won the 2008 Donatella Flick Conducting Competition. The result was announced at the end of the final concert on Thursday 2 October 2008 in Barbican Hall, London UK.

David Afkham, born in 1983, has a diploma in conducting from the Liszt School in Weimar (2007), and has taken part in masterclasses with George Albrecht, T Koutnik, Miguel Angel Pérez Garrido, Salvador Mas Conde and Bernard Haitink. Earlier this year he won the Bernard Haitink Award for Young Talent.

In 2006 he was Chief Conductor of the KHG Symphony Orchestra, Freiburg, and was Assistant Guest Conductor of the Baden-Wurttemburg Youth Orchestra in 2007. For a period in 2008 he has been assistant to Bernard Haitink with the Concertgebouw Orkest Amsterdam.

The competition, created by Donatella Flick in 1990, aims to help a young conductor establish an international conducting career. In 1996 a partnership with the London Symphony Orchestra was forged and each winner of the competition is offered, in addition to an award of fifteen thousand pounds, the opportunity to become assistant conductor of the LSO for up to one year.

As this year's winner, Afkham will work with the LSO's principal and guest conductors on the preparation of concerts and may be asked to help with the assessment of new scores, take part in the orchestra's education programme, accompany the orchestra on tour and, should the opportunity arise, to conduct the LSO in concert.

Posted: 3 October 2008

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