edition49 music award – you are the winner

Slide Background

The Human Voice
Instrument of the year 2025

What is the edition49 music award?

Engelbert Humperdinck Music School Siegburg 
36th Siegburg Composition Competition 2025

Organizer: Stadtbetriebe Siegburg AöR – a municipal enterprise of the CITY OF SIEGBURG –, Department 140 Music School in collaboration with edition 49 music publishing company, Karlsruhe

International Composition Competition for Amateur Choirs

The aim of the competition is to raise the profile of the human voice – as the “Instrument of the Year” 2025 – in international public awareness.

Prize Money: A total of up to €7,000 is available. 

Special Prizes: 

Special prize within the above prize money for a composition by children or adolescents under the age of 18 (excluding students at conservatories of music)
 Special prize awarded by the Humperdinckfreunde Siegburg e. V. association, amounting to €250 
Edition 49 offers publication for selected award-winning works

Submission Deadline: 23:59 CET on January 15, 2026

Entry Conditions

Works can only be submitted using the form at the bottom of this website.

The competition is open to works for amateur and other non-professional choirs in the following categories:

Children’s choir (1 or 2 voices) or youth choir (3 or 4 voices)
Mixed choir (3 or 4 voices)
Women’s choir (2 or 3 voices)
Men’s choir (3 or 4 voices)

Children, adolescents, and adults of all ages may participate. Composers are free to submit single- or multi-movement works or cycles. Each composer may submit as many works as they wish.

Text Selection: secular or sacred Text
Language: German, English, or Latin 
Instrumentation: a cappella, with piano or organ accompaniment (church organ)
 Duration: up to 10 minutes per work

All scores must be submitted in computer typesetting (PDF). An audio file (MP3) must also be submitted with the score. This can be extracted from music notation software; a live recording is not required. The audio quality of the MP3 file has no impact on the assessment of the composition.

Submitted works must not have been publicly performed. 

Award Concert: Depending on the instrumentation and category of the award-winning works, one or more performances of the selected works will take place in Siegburg in the course of 2026.

Jury:

Prof. Eberhard Metternich (University of Music and Dance Cologne, Director of Cologne Cathedral Music, Cologne Cathedral Choir and Vocal Ensemble)
Brigitte Rauscher (State Director of Church Music in NRW, Chair of the Choral Association of the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland, Vice President of the Choral Association of the Evangelical Church in Germany)
Choir Director Guido Harzen (Cantor at St. Servatius in Siegburg, from October 1, 2025 church musician for the pastoral area Düsseldorf City, artistic director of several concert series, conductor of KonzertChor Düsseldorf and Chorus Novus Siegburg)
Björn Raithel (Robert Schumann University of Music Düsseldorf, Lecturer in Music Theory, composer)
Matthias Hammerschmitt (Conductor, choir director, composer and arranger – Lecturer at the Karlsruhe University of Music, long-time Kapellmeister at the Badisches Staatstheater, co-founder of edition49 and currently its second managing director)
Bernard Bagger (b. 1999) is a young conductor, arranger, and composer from Karlsruhe with Estonian roots. During his school years, he performed as a member of the German National Youth Orchestra under conductors such as Kirill Petrenko and Sir Simon Rattle. As a musical director, he works for the Schlossfestspiele Ettlingen, the Volksschauspiele Ötigheim, and collaborates with various choirs and orchestras in the Karlsruhe region.
Ode Pürg (born 1999) is a young and recognised Estonian choir conductor, song accompanist and songwriter. In July 2025, she made her debut as a conductor at the Estonian Song Festival (Laulupidu), one of the largest choral festivals in the world. She has won several competitions for young conductors and as a composer and arranger she specialises primarily in choral arrangements.)
Sonja Reinsfelder (Choral director of the CV Karlsruhe, volunteer director of a choir academy, association coach, “Lifelong Singing” advocate, project choir conductor)