Jury 2024

The Hamburg native Mark Rohde has been the General Music Director of the Mecklenburg State Theatre Schwerin and the Mecklenburg State Orchestra since 2020. He places a strong emphasis on the sonic development of the traditional ensemble. The program includes not only major romantic orchestral literature but also works of classical modernism. Recently, Wagner’s “Tannhäuser” and Janacek’s “The Cunning Little Vixen” were on the opera’s schedule. In April 2022, the first CD of Mark Rohde and the Mecklenburg State Orchestra featuring works by composer Emilie Mayer was released on the Dabringhaus and Grimm label.

After studying violin in Frankfurt and conducting with Prof. Christof Prick in Hamburg, he began his career as a répétiteur and conductor. In 2011, he became the first Kapellmeister at the Hanover State Opera. His repertoire there included not only major Italian operas but also late Romantic and contemporary works. He worked there with singers such as Thomas Hampson, Neil Shicoff, and Bryn Terfel. In 2019, he moved to the National Theatre Mannheim as the Deputy General Music Director.

In June 2023, he conducted the premiere of “Giselle” at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein. He has conducted, among others, the Munich Philharmonic, the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn, the NDR Radio Philharmonic, the Munich Symphony Orchestra, the Wuppertal Symphony Orchestra, and the Lithuanian National Philharmonic. He regularly performs with soloists such as Antje Weithaas, Nils Mönkemeyer, or Maximilian Hornung. Guest performances have taken him to the Nuremberg State Theatre, the Bonn Opera, the Kassel State Theatre, the St. Gallen Theatre, and the Linz Theatre, among others. Several tours have taken him to Asia.

Born in London, Amy studied at the Royal College of Music and at the Akademie Mjzickych in Prague. At the age of 23 Amy was appointed principal of the Philharmonia Orchestra and in 2014 was selected by Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT).

Passionate about bringing the bassoon to a wider audience, Amy is a soloist, chamber musician, teacher and communicator regularly featuring on BBC Radio 3. She has appeared as a soloist with the English Chamber Orchestra and has given recitals at Wigmore Hall and Throughout the UK and Europe.

Amy was a member of Ensemble 360 for 10 years.

Amy is a poressor at the Royal Academy of Music in London since 2014

Dag Jensen was born in Horton, Norway, and began bassoon lessons at the age of 11 with Robert Rönnes. He was principal bassoonist at the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra from 1985 to 1988 and held the same position at the Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1988 to 1997.

Dag Jensen won the 1st prize at the Norwegian Youth Music Competition and twice won the Coveted ARD Music Competition in Munich in 1984 and 1990.

His numerous solo appearances with renowned orchestras has taken him throughout Europe, the United States and Japan. 2003 he was principal bassoonist in the newly founded Lucern festival orchestra under Claudio Abbado. Seiji Ozawa asked him to join the Saito Kinen Festival Orchestra as principal bassoonist.

Chamber music plays an important part in his musical life and he his a member of the Sabine Meyer Wind Ensemble and the Ensemble Villa Musica and is a regular guest at several music festivals national and international.

His artistic career is well documented on CD. Dag Jensen has been professor at the Hannover Academy of Music and Theatre since 1997. Many of his students have won prizes of national and international music competitions.

Since 2011 he is professor for bassoon at the university for music and performing arts in Munich.

Andrea Lieberknecht was born in Augsburg. She studied music under Professor Paul Meise nat the academy of music in Munich. In 1988, even before finishing her studies, she became soloist flute player of the Munich Radio Orchestra. In 1991 she changed to the same Position in The West German Radio Symphony Orchestra in Cologne. Moreover during the years 1993to 1996 she was the soloist flute player at the Richard Wagner Festival in Bayreuth.

As a soloist and member of a chamber music group she has won many international competitions: i.e., the international music competition “Prager Frühling” in 1991, International Flute Competition Kobe in 1993. With the ARCIS Quintett prize winner of the German Music Competition 1996 and the international competition for chamber music at the ARD, Munich, in Colmar, Belgrade, Tokyo and Trapani.

Recitals, solo concerts and chamber music concerts with well-known musicians and famous orchestras have taken her around the world. Numerous recordings with solo and chamber music, some of them prize-winning, document her versatile artistic activity. Since 2002 she has been a professor of flute at the academy of music in Hannover. Since 2011 she is professor for flute at the University for Music and Performing Arts in Munich. Her students have won prizes of national and international music Competitions.