Top German youth string orchestra wins the 2023 Würth Prize

The Deutsche Streicherphilharmonie - a youth string orchestra based in Bonn, Germany - has won the 2023  of Jeunesses Musicales Germany. It will be awarded to the orchestra in mid-September at the Würth Forum in Künzelsau, Germany. The prize comes with €25,000, supported by the Würth Foundation, a civil law foundation that promotes charitable causes from the arts and culture, to science and research.

The Deutsche Streicherphilharmonie is made up of string players aged 11 to 20. It was founded in 1973 in East Berlin, and has borne different names until 2004 when it came to be known as the Deutsche Streicherphilharmonie. It has toured to countries such as Poland, Norway, China and Ecuador, and artists such as conductor Vladimir Jurowski, violinist Julia Fischer and violist Nils Mönkemeyer have collaborated with the orchestra. Alumni of the orchestra now play in orchestras such as the Vienna Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Munich Philharmonic.

Since 1991, the Würth Prize has been awarded to artists, ensembles or projects who have demonstrated the values of the Jeunesses Musicales Germany, a German cultural organisation dedicated to running events, awarding prizes and offering support for young musicians in Germany. Notable past winners of the Würth Prize of Jeunesses Musicales Germany include cellist Sol Gabetta, violinists Christian Tetzlaff and Patricia Kopatchinskaja, violist Tabea Zimmermann, conductors Claudo Abbado and Gustavo Dudamel, the Berlin Philharmonic’s Education Program, and the Notos Quartet, who won the prize in 2022.